


The Emerald Chase

by lumienarc



Category: 2PM (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fantasy, Implied Mpreg, It's all about emerald, M/M, Moana (2016) References, Nichkhun is a photographer, So do Chansung and Wooyoung
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-09-27 12:34:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 36,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10020986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lumienarc/pseuds/lumienarc
Summary: Never would, even in his wildest dreams, Nichkhun dream of being haunted by a mysterious man that recurred in his photos for the last six months like a ghost. As the mystery progressed and fate dictated, somehow, he found himself chasing after the man in the wilderness of Gizo, and fell. Literally.But all that is nothing but the beginning.After surviving the fall and experiencing other kind of falling that is not as lethal, Nichkhun never thought he would be caught in the middle of a dispute between his mysterious new romantic interest and one of his family company’s most influential investors. Of course, he also never thought that it would be about one freaking emerald—but, in his defense, he had no idea that it was some 10 kg of one emerald stone. Certainly, now he could at least relate, right?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is written for 2PM Brighter Days writing festival at AFF, so this is cross-published in AFF under the same username. This is, somehow, not inspired by Moana (2016) at all. It just so happened that our ideas collided generally. Thanks for your attention.

# Act I: The Man in Printed Pictures

* * *

THERE was only summer in Hawaii, or so Nichkhun believed. He had longed to visit the state again for the last couple of years. His life had been a series of worldwide adventure that caused him to grow a certain link to islands and oceans. Now that the time had come for him to visit Hawaii, it was not a vacation actually. It was an invitation to perpetuate his college friend who was holding her wedding ceremony there.

The weather was perfect for outdoor photography (and wedding). Nichkhun hummed happily as he assembled his equipments. He walked through the corridor down the hall, professionalism emanating from him, but he suddenly halted and sighed. At the front hall, he ran into his junior colleagues that usually glued to his sides like clingy little brothers: Hwang Chansung and Jang Wooyoung.

“You should start in the dressing room, _Hyung_ ,” Chansung suggested informatively, putting into his mouth another spicy meatball from his fully-stacked breakfast plate. This young man was a fellow photographer who actually started earlier than Nichkhun, but he was Nichkhun’s junior in terms of professional photography.

“Stephanie looked so happy when we saw her earlier—I have never seen her more beautiful, honestly. You should go see her soon, _Hyung_ ,” Wooyoung remarked, shoving two small ball of fried chicken into his mouth. This one had just started and mostly was still an amateur (and he was supposed to be Nichkhun’s assistant, but look at him now! Just right after he started working with Nichkhun, he went and dated Hwang Chansung as if it was the most natural thing to do in this world, but Nichkhun didn’t really mind, as long as it didn’t get in the way). Chansung was supposed to prepare for the ceremony since he was in charge for the guests, but really, you could never make him prioritize anything beyond food first thing in the morning.

“I guess I will go there now,” Nichkhun said, “You two should stop being a couple of black-holes and prepare for the wedding, you glutton duo.”

“Hey, who always feed us food every time we come over, insisting we need to eat more and then cooking more?” Chansung accused. “You are a pig yourself, _Hyung_! Your words, not mine!” Nichkhun snorted, passing the said glutton duo to steal a piece of food from each of the plates.

“Well, I wonder who,” Nichkhun teased, escaping with stolen food. Chansung and Wooyoung screamed in protest, but they were too lazy to even move from their seats, so they let him get away.

*****

The brides were perfectly happy and Nichkhun had so much fun taking their pictures (he was in charge of the main characters of this event: the brides). The main event itself lasted for half a day while the preparation had taken place approximately three days prior. The party only ended two hours after dinnertime. Everyone was exhausted, but Nichkhun still woke up early in the morning the next day.

He wandered away from the resort, alone, as usual. Even though he preferred capturing lively people among crowd, sometimes catching pictures of locals and tourists in the rural areas was so much more challenging and joyful. Snapping photos of Hawaiian volcanoes and her beautiful shores was not bad either. Anywhere he went, everything was normal. The point was here: _It was normal_. It _was_.

“I have just sent the files to the happy couple, _Hyung_ ,” Wooyoung reported as Nichkhun entered the room, frown fixed on his forehead.

“Good job,” Nichkhun replied distractedly, eyes glued at the photographs in his hands.

“Oh, did you develop your personal photos, _Hyung_?” Wooyoung asked.

“Yeah, but Wooyoung- _ah_ , I think I’ve found strange things in my pictures,” said Nichkhun absentmindedly. He laid down the pictures he brought on the coffee table, spreading them as the fortune teller would with tarot cards. Wooyoung bent over, trying to locate the strange things his senior referred.

“Hmm… I see nothing’s strange except this seriously good-looking guy I unfortunately didn’t meet during the buffet party at the beach,” Wooyoung said, pointing at exactly what bothered Khun.

“Good, you found it—he is the strange thing, Wooyoung- _ah_ , but what’s more, he appeared everywhere.”

Nichkhun showed pictures of the mountain, the orchard, the field, the empty beach, and wherever else other than the wedding venue. There was a man, unmistakably an Asian, but highly presumed as a Korean judging from the combination of his square jaw, tall height, and small eyes—mostly the jaw. He was a sinfully beautiful specimen—a perfect muscular model-like man, arguably could be compared to any bodybuilder out there. He was probably taller than Chansung (obviously bigger). He wore red swimming trunk and bared his torso, exhibiting his bronze glossy skin.

The first occurrence of this was at the beach party, standing near the buffet table that was caught in the picture when Nichkhun intended to capture the dancing brides in the middle of designated circle of friends. He seemed to belong in the scene that Nichkhun had taken no heed on it. Nichkhun had been wondering himself _why he would not try to talk to that man if he was really there_. Nichkhun knew everyone who attended the wedding—he read the list of guests, this man definitely wasn’t in the list. However, the man kept appearing in his pictures, even in the files.

“What are you two looking at?” Chansung asked, joining the two by surrendering his body on their backs like a bear. He saw the pictures immediately. “Hot stuff! Don’t tell me you like him, Wooyoung- _ah_!” Chansung screamed. Wooyoung covered his ears and went to pinch Chansung’s stomach.

“No! These are Nichkhun- _hyung_ ’s photos—this man has been appearing in his photos during our stay in Hawaii, and we did not see him at all! This kind of man is kinda hard to miss, don’t you think, Chansung- _ah_?”

“I swear I didn’t see anyone there before, where he stood, it was always supposed to be empty. How did he appear there?” Nichkhun muttered.

“I think he’s a ghost,” Wooyoung suggested.

“Ghosts are transparent—he is not! He looks human for me,” argued Chansung.

“No! You said that because you keep thinking that I’m checking him out,” accused Wooyoung.

“So what if I am? Can’t I feel jealous?” Chansung snapped and pouted.

“You two, get out, get out,” Nichkhun said quietly, pushing the men away from him. They did not resist and just follow the force. They continued their quarrel at the lobby. Nichkhun could not stand it whenever they fought because just another ten minutes into the quarrel, they would make up and make out—so it would be so much better if they did it somewhere else.

“Just who is this man?” Nichkhun muttered, pondering curiously—slightly crept out, but just like people always said, when your stalker is hot, you are willing to overlook the fact that they are actually a total creep. Nichkhun decided that he wouldn’t want to deal with this man if they met, but he wanted at least to hear the reason why he had been following. You can’t blame a man’s curiosity, right?

*****

The mysterious man took over Nichkhun’s mind ever since. It was not like it was Nichkhun’s fault. After Hawaii, the man never failed to appear in Nichkhun’s photos, specifically ones of public attraction or events, but he only appeared after these pictures were developed, never in the digital files. Well, except the ones in Hawaii, the digital files contained his appearance in them. Nichkhun swore no one saw him—including him. He had asked local authorities about him, but the reply was always identical, “No, we have never seen him before.” Nichkhun pressed the questions more than necessary, even asking random people about him, but all those were fruitless. Wherever he went, whenever he snapped a picture, there would always be him, and no one could explain or pinpoint who this man was.

Nichkhun took a picture of the audience of Rio’s parade. The man appeared again there, standing among the people of Rio and enthusiastic tourists. He looked out of place as he evidently wore the same swimming trunk and no top, just as how Nichkhun saw him in the pictures of Hawaii. It was always the same as if he was a fragment of dream or remembrance that Nichkhun had from his past life, unless this wasn’t the case. If it was exclusively caused by such type of memory, the man would never adjust to the occasion. This Nichkhun duly noted when he photographed London Eye. The man appeared before him again, but the man did not blend into the scenery or any crowd (since there wasn’t any at the moment); he was clearly staring at Khun. His dark and deep eyes impaled Nichkhun’s image receptors and broke whatever at the end of his neurons (red: his heart).

“This is insane,” he said. “That man is looking at me, in the middle of an empty lawn. I would know if a man like him stood there, wouldn’t I?”

Chansung and Wooyoung were stacking their legs on one another’s, lazily occupying the sofa and filling all available space on it with their bodies (mostly Chansung’s). They hummed together and nodded even though it was clear that they actually were focusing on doing some sort of game rather than lending their ears to this topic. Nichkhun wanted to smack their heads—but it was a given, he supposed, since Nichkhun had been talking about this for more than six months.

“If it was me, I wouldn’t miss seeing a hot stuff like him, _Hyung_ ,” Wooyoung said, laughing as he tried to prevent Chansung from grabbing him by the arm.

“Right, no one would, but apparently I did and _every single person on the goddamn planet dirt where I visit_ , Jang Wooyoung! It is absolutely _normal_ , right, Jang Wooyoung?” Nichkhun asked, visibly sardonic, but the intended feeling unfortunately did not come across.

“Don’t think about it too much, _Hyung_ ,” Chansung suggested, catching Wooyoung’s hands and now commencing muscle-war, one Wooyoung would never win. “Do you have any clue about who he is?”

“That’s the problem, Hwang Chansung! I told you, time and time again, that I asked around whenever he appeared in my photos, but no one claimed to have seen him. Even the police—London Metropolitan Police, Chansung—they went and gathered the information on him with _no result whatsoever_!” Nichkhun held his head in uncontained frustration. So much for the title of best police in the world. Perhaps this man was really a ghost—and he haunted Nichkhun now. He paled.

“ _Hyung_ , your phone,” Wooyoung interrupted, taking the vibrating phone that was abandoned on the side table next to the sofa. He handed the phone to the stressing out Khun. The Thai accepted the call.

“Hello, Khun’s speaking. Hm? Oh, sure! I’ll open the door now,” Nichkhun said, suddenly switching language to English as he was walking toward the entrance. He opened the door, revealing a foreign man wearing sharp designer suit—that screamed none other than “high fashion man”—standing at the doorway. “Come in, John. You still don’t like ringing bell, huh?” Nichkhun said, gesturing a welcome. The man smiled, shrugged at the remark, and then stepped into the house. Both of them ended the call and walked toward the lounge. Chansung and Wooyoung pulled themselves together quickly and stood up to greet the man.

“These are my friends, John; they are my working partners, too,” Nichkhun introduced politely as they shook hands in turn. “Hwang Chansung, Jang Wooyoung.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m John Gayer,” the man said, introducing himself suavely. They then sat down together.

“Should I offer you a drink?” Nichkhun said.

“Oh, no, don’t bother, I won’t be long,” Gayer rejected politely. His eyes, however, caught the sight of Nichkhun’s pictures on the table. He picked one of them and curiously was interested in it.

“Ah, I have just discussed it with them,” Nichkhun said, noticing that his guest might have seen what he saw. “There is a man that keeps appearing in my pictures. I wonder if it is just a coincidence.”

“I think he is just following a trend. I heard you are incredibly popular these days that you actually are followed by your fans,” said Gayer, unusually nonchalant, putting back the photograph on the table.

“Oh, that’s exaggerating,” Nichkhun said sheepishly. “How has it been, your gemstone business?”

“It’s doing fairly good,” Gayer answered calmly, “Although it could do a little boost. I have been looking for a legendary emerald, perfectly green and flawless, sitting on a crystal throne. It has been my family’s special interest: Emeralds.”

Nichkhun nodded at his casual explanation, after all everyone knew that the Gayers were deeply in love with emeralds. They loved them more than diamonds that they put their definition of perfect emerald in their family crest. Every Gayer had emerald-adorned accessories to go with their every set of brand fashion. Their emeralds were accompanied with certificate as well. Nichkhun could not understand their obsession over the particular species of gemstone, but then again, he was just too normal to understand how mega rich family members think.

“Oh, is there such legendary item? It’s my first time hearing it,” Wooyoung mumbled in his mother tongue, surprised. He and Chansung had rudimentary skill in English to the extent that they understood when talked to, but struggled hard to reply. Gayer overlooked this remark naturally since Gayer had approximate knowledge of everything.

“You are funding too much for the resort project, though,” Nichkhun said, spilling out insider’s information. Gayer did not bother to deny.

“I have my reasons. Gizo is an emerald, too. I love emeralds,” he stated proudly. He, then, turned to Nichkhun and seriously began a real discussion without leaving any opening for any other kind of chat, “You know I seldom interfere into business I invest, but this is different, so I hope you take my words seriously. So, I have come here to offer you a job, related to your parents’ new resort that you just mentioned. This is a simple task. As you know, as the biggest investor for this project, I worry a lot, especially regarding the promotions, so I want you to take the best pictures for grand opening and long-term promotions. Not just the resort, but the entire island and the people. Anything that seems to sell, I want you to capture it, and since it’s you, I expect nothing but perfection.”

“Ah,” Nichkhun sheepishly chuckled, “I am not that good, John, but certainly I am honored that you come yourself to offer me this job.”

“I believe in you,” Gayer firmly stated.

“Okay, then, how could I reject?” Nichkhun agreed without much thought. “Then, can I take Chansung and Wooyoung? They are good, too. After all, I need assistants to cover as much as possible.”

Gayer leered at the two and judged them with his icy grey eyes. Then, he shrugged and said, “Of course, why not? I trust your judgement.”

And so, they flew first thing in the morning to the wilderness of Oceania.

*****

The resort was, as expected, modern and expansive. It combined the spirit of coastal people and urban community preferences. Nichkhun bet they must have installed the best internet service for the resort. The three of them were given a room each (Wooyoung and Chansung naturally would share one of their beds during the some nights, but they mostly stayed in their own respective room) that was just across each other. Upon arrival, they automatically snapped pictures of their own rooms and everything in and closely located around the resort. Afterward, the junior duo decided to check on diving spots because this activity was the specialty of Solomon Islands (the most important point, they would claim), but Nichkhun declined the offer to join them and chose to go on his own. Nichkhun thought that it would be considered slacking off if he went with them. There was a lot more than just scuba diving to promote—after all, Solomon Islands _had been long known_ for it.

“The island is nice,” Nichkhun had muttered to himself as he rode around the island alone on a jeep. He purposely chose to sightsee, exploring the entire island, not limited to the city. It was as good as handing the promotional aspects of the business to them. Nichkhun had never been there before, but he was confident that he would never be lost. He planned to put that on as promotional tagline: “Visit Gizo, you’ll never get lost, except lost in the luxury of paradise on earth that is Gizo” or something along the lines. He had to work on his wordings.

Gizo was a small island, located in the western province, located between Kolombangara, Ranongga, and Vella Lavella Islands. More than half of its body remained covered by emerald blanket of robust woods. People said that no danger lurked behind the forest these days, but they also warned visitors not to venture too deeply into the woods, even with native guide. In their land, cannibals used to strive—and only two survived the calamity. Despite the dark past, this place’s fame was growing steadily. It was a good place to start an investment, even Nichkhun who did not do this kind of business knew well.

Nichkhun’s jeep chose to break down the engine in the middle of the forest road, which was inarguably a perfect incident to ruin his day (the jeep was inarguably brand new—how could this be? No time for rhetorical questions, though). He tried to locate the problem, but the vehicle looked perfect, it just stopped working all of sudden and refused to go again. Nichkhun surrendered the thought of handling this himself, so he began to consider his options. He knew that there was a small village just ahead, but it was still quite a distance if he were to go by foot. He messaged Mike, a good friend who was responsible to run the resort for the moment, asking for assistance about the predicament. Since phone signal was scarce, Nichkhun just let him know where he was waiting—and then, he waited. He walked around for a moment, savouring the moment as well as taking some pictures. The path ahead was quite a sight, actually.

After a while, Nichkhun went back to his jeep, deciding that it would be unwise to wander any farther. It was quiet around there, quite serene. Nichkhun was dozing off when he heard a rustle. He jerked awake and saw a glimpse of a figure, slipping into the woods. He blinked and leapt off the jeep, standing next to it with eyes nearly popped out. The figure moved incredibly fast, but Nichkhun caught its feature. It was a man, an unbelievably familiar man. His feet took him into the forest before he could give it a second thought. He tried to call out to the figure with no desired result. He was stubborn, of course, so that he would not stop now—not with the fact that he finally saw _The Man_ with his own eyes! Nichkhun had absolutely no idea where the figure went or where his feet led him to, but he knew he could not stop.

His sleeveless top provided him poor protection from barks and branches—good choice, Khun. His supposedly flawless arms scratched here and there, but then again, he did not even have a right to complain or to blame himself for his chosen attire since he decided that he would not be able to stand the heat if he wore anything else. His flip-flops were even worse—he really underestimated the unexpected challenges. He began to make a mental note to eradicate flip-flops and exchange them for trekking sandals as moist forest floor swallowed the soles and forced them to stay glued on the mud. Nichkhun put all his strength inconsiderably to pull off the footwear and regrettably caused the straps to snap. Good work, Khun. _Perfetto_!

Nichkhun did not realize how far he had gone into the forest and, surely, he did not understand his current location at all. He did not even remember how he got there, but he just could not stop himself from stepping into obviously deathly giant hole in the ground that wasn’t supposed to exist (right?). Thanks, weak mind, now he was falling. It would be much better if it was not _literal falling_.

“Help…” he murmured weakly to the canopy of trees that gradually zoomed out of view. He was falling into a deep, deep dark hole—and he was embraced by cold, dark water that soon robbed him off his senses and, immediately afterwards, consciousness.

*****

He woke up dramatically with a hand clawing to empty air above and a loud gasp. Nichkhun lied on the ground, wet head to toe. He evened his breath first and retracted his hand from the sky, clutching it with the other hand on his chest. He blinked rapidly. He realized that he had just coughed out water before he was conscious. He sat up and studied his condition. No flip-flops—real smooth, Khun—and scrapped knees. Not bad, though, he decided, at least he lived. Wait, no, where was his camera?! He never took off the camera (as if you were going to let a chance to finally solve the mystery that had been haunted you for the last six months without a solid evidence recorded in your camera, right?). He, then, looked about, assessing his surroundings. His heart stopped at the sight of familiar figure sitting by the waterfall that he found instead of his precious camera.

“You…”

His breathy voice croaked. _HE WAS REAL!_ He was squealing in high pitched voice in his head. It would be embarrassing if he had done it in real life. He was relieved that he still had control even over his euphoria.

“You shouldn’t be here,” the man said. His voice was deep and husky—rough, just as he looked.

His piercing stare was magnanimous, keeping Nichkhun’s eyes fixed and unmoving. Nichkhun had prided himself as a bisexual, but his male type was usually somewhere between Chansung and Wooyoung (but he didn’t have any interest in these two, even before they dated, honestly, he swore), rather submissive but also aggressive at the same time, looking handsome and cute simultaneously (this had no relation about his own looks, though)—and he believed that he was always the one who wore the pants—but in front of this creature (one that was completely far from his type), he suddenly felt like giving everything he had to him and just left his whole being for this man’s joy. He had underestimated everything. The pictures didn’t do justice for this man.

“Are you not listening to me?” the mysterious man asked firmly, snapping Nichkhun out of his daydreaming.

“Sorry, I thought I hit my head earlier,” sheepishly he replied, casting away his gaze.

“Following me was a reckless move,” the man explained, slowly approaching Nichkhun. Now that he was getting nearer, Nichkhun could see how tall this man really was. He wasn’t just taller than Chansung who was a little bit over an inch taller than Nichkhun; this man was almost a head taller than Nichkhun, must be close to two meters tall! He shook himself off the thoughts; he must listen to the man now.

“The forest seems to take a great liking for you. She might keep you.”

“Excuse me?” Nichkhun asked, intrigued by the last bit. He made terrible mistake by turning his eyes back to the other man. Instantly his eyes met those impaling eyes. Nichkhun was once again losing himself.

“Are you captivated by me?” the man asked, quite flatly despite the words.

“Why—why did you ask?” Nichkhun stuttered, flustered. This man was very narcissistic, if Nichkhun didn’t know better. The way he said it, though, sounded more worrying than boasting, unlike the former assumption.

“Forgive me, then,” the man told him politely, “Let me see your wounds first.”

He smiled thinly as he casted his eyes somewhere else, namely Nichkhun’s arms. He opened his palm, revealing green paste that he, then, applied to every single one of Nichkhun’s wounds. They strangely did not sting, only a bit of zapping that lasted no more than a couple of seconds. Nichkhun’s nose picked up a heavenly fragrant emitted by the stranger’s body as the man tended his wounds carefully. Nichkhun could hardly stop himself from leaning toward the man.

“I never knew it is _that_ strong,” the man suddenly said, breaking Nichkhun’s enraptured state. “I reckon it is now finally time for me to find a vessel to bear my children. My body sends out improper signals and you are unfortunate to be only one present. I did not think it might affect you since, as I recalled, it hardly caused any effect in crowded places.” He smiled, offering a hand to help Nichkhun back to his feet. Hearing him talk like that made Nichkhun feel as if they were in a movie. Too strange!

“Ve—vessel? You spoke as if you could even impregnate a man,” Nichkhun said thoughtlessly as he was standing up.

“The Mother Island altered my physiology long ago. She is, after all, the creator. If a man like you is affected by my biological calls, then it will be highly probable for you to become pregnant with my seeds, but worry not, for now I shall not sow anywhere,” explained the man. Nichkhun did not know why he felt greatly disappointed.

“O—okay,” he said, “Now, where is this place?”

“It’s the realm beyond human’s eyes, The Heart of the Mother Island. I live here,” the man replied enigmatically. Nichkhun stared at the man questioningly.

“Okay, then, next question: Who are you?”

Without hesitation, the man replied, “My name is Ok Taecyeon.”

“Okay, Taecyeon,” Nichkhun began carefully. He might as well as deal with a limitedly sane person right now (not to mention, a giant), so he should be extremely conscientious with his words. After all, this man’s words were quite puzzling. “Judging from your name, can I assume that you are Korean? How long have you been here?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am— _was_ , chronologically speaking,” Taecyeon answered fluidly. He brought his hands to his back, a gesture you did not normally see a half-naked man do in the middle of a jungle. Taecyeon added, “I honestly have no idea how long has it passed since I started living in here. I remember the last time I was among people was the time I sailed with the John Company  [1]  , just a year after Child’s War  [2] .”

Nichkhun’s head was spinning. Anything the man had just told him went above his head, completely unrecorded. Was there anything Nichkhun captured from the words he said? Oh, yes, John Company—no, wait, that wasn’t even how people referred to the company, well, at least not ones who were of Nichkhun’s generation or even before. Nichkhun stopped and fixed his eyes on the man’s face. He could not see any sign of wrinkles on his face or silver strand on his hair.

“You must be joking,” said Nichkhun, mouth agape.

“What year is it now?” asked Taecyeon innocently.

“It’s 2016!”

“I see. So, it has been that long,” Taecyeon muttered calmly, nodding in understanding. “It has been a while since the last time I tracked the days. I reckon it’s why you have fancy, handy technology now.”

Nichkhun, however, did not take this lightly.

“You’re lying, aren’t you? You look like my age. You can’t be older than twenty eight! Well, maybe a year or two, but no more than that,” insisted Nichkhun. The man smiled and stepped away from his guest. He said, with a tone of complete leisure:

“I was twenty eight when they threw me off the ship.”

“When they _what_?” Nichkhun asked, blinking rapidly. He thought he heard it wrong, but he could not have, not when he actually paid utmost attention to every single word Taecyeon uttered since the beginning of their conversation.

Taecyeon did not answer but, instead, he told Nichkhun: “Let us go quickly now. You must exit the forest before sundown. Things tend to be out of control once the sun is gone, thus I strongly suggest you leave immediately. Come, I shall guide you out of this realm.”

He led Nichkhun toward a small paved road into the woods. Nichkhun did not have any other choice. The sky gradually grew red, signaling the exeunt of the day lord. The man moved swiftly on uneven ground, up and down slippery roots and decomposing bunch of leaves. Nichkhun found it challenging to keep up.

“Wait, what about you?”

The man abruptly stopped before Nichkhun, forcing him to put on a brake before he collided with the man (although Nichkhun wouldn’t mind colliding with him). He casted his eyes down to Nichkhun’s bare feet, and then he gazed into Nichkhun’s eyes. With a reassuring smile that warmed up Nichkhun both mentally and physically, he answered:

“There is nothing to be worried about.”

The man brought Nichkhun like a bride through the forest. There was very little Nichkhun remembered about the journey back and their parting. Taecyeon disappeared into the woods in the speed of sound and Nichkhun did not have any chance to even thank him for his help. Wooyoung asked where his footwear and camera were, but Nichkhun could not provide him any answer. He, too, wondered where those had vanished.

*****

Nichkhun was determined to find Taecyeon at will as he left the resort ere the dawn, before anyone else was awake. He had done his research on everything Taecyeon said yesterday. He still could not believe it, so he would pester that creature until he spat all the truth himself. Any sane person would not think of revisiting the occasion, even with a chance to meet such beautiful specimen was at stake, because it was not safe. It was dangerous; especially considering Nichkhun was _not_ a local who understood the island and its forests, but the photographer mindlessly overlooked the perilous prospects. He had never been more intrigued, but who would not be curious if they met a man that lived in the middle of nowhere, consistently wearing red swimming trunk, dangerously handsome, and claiming that his lifespan was on par with a vampire—but he was not a vampire!

He wore shoes this time, having enough trouble yesterday with weak footwear such as flip-flops. Also, he wore a shirt (rolled the sleeves a bit instead of going bare-armed) and a cap. He brought insect spray, mosquito repeller lotion (he had applied it to his skin beforehand, of course), and first aid kit. He didn’t bring his phone today because it was waterlogged yesterday and was unable to be revived (he handed it to Mike and trusted him to have it fixed anyhow). He intentionally left the jeep where he was stuck yesterday and went into the forest.

There were sounds of animals around the trees, sometimes they made Nichkhun jump out of surprise, but nothing remotely dangerous had come across him so far. Regrettably, that also stalled his meeting with the mysterious Taecyeon. He had walked for more than—he checked his red camo wristwatch—three hours passed, but no sign of the evil hole to which Nichkhun fell or of other human being, much less the total weirdo who claimed to have lived for 350-something years (was he human or was he a period of colonialism?). He slid down against a big tree and sat, drinking from his canteen.

“I told you yesterday that you shouldn’t be here,” a voice said unexpectedly, causing Nichkhun to choke on his water. He got on his feet speedily, unintentionally dropped his canteen. As he turned wildly toward the source, he saw Taecyeon stand just a few meters in front of him. The man was as Nichkhun always remembered. He didn’t even change his trunk—or did he? Perhaps he had twelve pairs of them!

“I—I haven’t told you my gratitude!” Nichkhun said, defending his presence.

“It is not necessary,” Taecyeon humbly spoke. “Come, I shall escort you back to whence you came from.”

“No,” Nichkhun plainly refused. “I’ve come to ask you about something, too.”

“Oh, I see. Then, ask away. I’ll answer your questions and then you can leave the forest immediately.”

“Why did you follow me around, in my photos?”

“Follow you?”

“Don’t play dumb—you appeared in many, many photos that I took, ever since I was in Hawaii, six months ago. Are you a ghost? You always appeared after the prints were developed. It’s just…”

“I did not follow you around, Nichkhun,” cut Taecyeon. The way he pronounced Nichkhun’s name was overly familiar and sensual—it sounded as if he had known Nichkhun for all his life. Wait, Nichkhun never introduced himself yesterday, right?

“Wait! Wait a minute, man! I didn’t tell you my name. How did you know? Are you a spy? Spy, aren’t you?” Nichkhun interrupted. The man, however, was calm and unaffected, perhaps intrigued as to why would Nichkhun think he didn’t—but he really didn’t!

“You did tell me, actually, but I didn’t back then,” he said simply, and then he continued where he was cut earlier, “About Hawaii, Khun, I did visit you when you were in Hawaii. You were so close that I couldn’t help myself. I knew it wouldn’t be wise to show myself as I am, but I judged it would be extremely awkward if I were to take animal form in that place. As soon as I felt you, I decided to go because I just had to see you again. Your beauty enthralls me. I, too, have words of gratitude that I have yet to give to you.”

“What? English, please?” Nichkhun asked dumbly. The odd creature smiled gently.

“I’m afraid you wouldn’t realize even if I spoke in other languages,” he smugly said. Before Khun could come up with an exclamation word, Taecyeon took him by the wrist and led him away. “Come with me. I’ll show you what I meant—afterwards, you can speak your part and then, I can send you home safely.”

Nichkhun followed the lead wordlessly, through vast emerald canopies and cool, fragrant woods. They stood before a hole that swallowed the river’s water, the thing that eerily looked like California Morning Glory spillway with less water. This hole seemed familiar for Nichkhun… wasn’t this where he fell before? Taecyeon, however, tugged his wrist and stepped forward.

“Wait, are you crazy?!” Nichkhun shouted, pulling his hand frantically. Taecyeon’s hand didn’t waver even an inch no matter how much strength Nichkhun put into his effort to break free. Was he a man or was he a monster?!

“Trust me, you won’t die,” said Taecyeon, overly calm. Well, to be fair, he didn’t die yesterday, but what if he died _today_?!

“Yeah, right, I won’t, as if I would believe that—wait, wait—aaah!”

Nichkhun screamed. The goddamn stupid creature encircled his arms around Nichkhun and threw them into the hole, straight into the centre of whirl. He wasn’t ready to die, damn monster! He could not breathe—not even feel his limbs. His ears lost their ability to hear anything. His skin received no signal. Everything was not functioning. For a moment, Nichkhun thought this was the end of his life, but no, suddenly everything rushed to him. The sounds of whirling water, air trapped inside various sizes of water cage, movements against the aqueous substance…

Cold attacked him mercilessly, biting deep to his joints. Pressure forced his lungs to do strenuous labor and his brain to quickly adjust all body parts’ function so his death wouldn’t approach this time. He slowly opened his eyes, welcomed by a strange sight that caused him to confuse what was actually above and beneath him. He was reminded of the falling of Alice—the only difference was that he was held by an obviously odd creature, who realized his consciousness and offered him an assuring smile, the last thing Nichkhun needed right now.

Within a range of time that felt like an eternity for Nichkhun, he eventually was able to greet open air once more. He swam to the bank, one he saw as soon as he reached the surface. Relishing the oxygen depravity of his lungs, he climbed onto land and lied on his back, arms spread. Finding his balance back, Nichkhun realized that before his eyes now was familiar blue sky framed by green canopies. It was exactly where he woke up that time. He sat up speedily, recognizing the waterfall.

“You basta— _huh_?” Nichkhun was about to curse at the creature, but Taecyeon was nowhere to be seen. He looked around, baffled—and secretly was scared that he was now alone in this unfamiliar place.

“Here,” the familiar voice said, surprising Nichkhun again as he appeared at his side.

“Can you not appear as if you were made of thin air?” Nichkhun protested. He leered at the palm offered at him. He looked up, staring at Taecyeon quizzically. “What’s this?”

“You don’t remember?” Taecyeon asked innocently, as if one old animal sticker would be enough to make Nichkhun remember about whatever he expected Nichkhun to recall (which obviously didn’t ring any bell… at all!). Taecyeon put the sticker in Nichkhun’s hand regardless the puzzled look the latter showed, and proceeded to explain, “You saved my life when I was at war with my old enemy. I was careless and my life was at stake; thankfully you helped. I had to stay for rehabilitation for three months until I was released. You gave this to me that day I was released.”

“What? I don’t remember it all,” Nichkhun said, befuddled.

“You were a wee child, then. I reckon you wouldn’t remember as well, but I am glad that now I am able to show my gratitude to you,” Taecyeon stated. This only further confused Nichkhun.

“I… don’t understand anything you said, but… okay, I’ll take your gratitude, whatever. And I… I just want to thank you for saving me yesterday.”

Nichkhun’s cheeks grew slightly hotter for apparently innocent and menial words of gratitude. Being in Taecyeon’s presence put quite a burden to Nichkhun’s mentality and he could not even begin to decipher the reason.

“I didn’t,” he shortly denied. Nichkhun was taken aback, blinking in disbelief.

“Huh?”

“I did not save you yesterday,” Taecyeon explained coolly. “All I did was bringing you to land. You shall not die falling from that hole if Mother Island favors you, which she apparently does.”

“Mother Island?” murmured Nichkhun, curious since he had heard Taecyeon mention it before. He was sure that Taecyeon did hear him, but the man consciously ignored the indirect question.

“Sunset will be upon us soon. You should be on your way now.”

“No, wait, that’s not true. It is not even midday when I… what?”

It was strange, perhaps, because Nichkhun was certain that he left at dawn from the resort and there was still time before midday as he met Taecyeon (or rather, Taecyeon appeared before him), but now before his eyes, the sun had descended from its throne. The sky gradually turned orange. He knew what he saw just a moment ago the sky above him was blue, but his eyes could not imagine this—this was definitely not something he expected. He even looked at his wristwatch and it showed 5:39 PM. At least the wristwatch was proven waterproof now.

“Time is differently distributed when it is your first time passing through the void consciously,” explained Taecyeon informatively, although obviously it did not help Nichkhun grasp anything he was trying to enunciate. He, disregarding Nichkhun’s state of perplexity, continued, “I nearly lost you back there, but, thankfully, Mother Island truly fancies you that she brought you back to my care.”

“English, please,” Nichkhun repeated himself from earlier. The bloody hot stuff grinned and chose not to react as wanted.

“It is not difficult to understand when you open your mind, Khun,” said he, gently patting Nichkhun’s back, overly familiar without even trying.

It was beyond strange…

*****

Before long, Nichkhun had been placed next to his jeep where he left it this morning. He looked up at the sky. It was dark now. He must be going, he concluded, but how oft! In his hand, the sticker remained. He could not recall any memories of him giving out a koala bear sticker to a man (if what Taecyeon said was true, then he must be a man by then, and Nichkhun would not imagine he could forget a man he helped). To think that such trivial item survived for at least a decade, good enough condition to be assessed, that man should be given an award.

“Odd one,” Nichkhun said. He put the sticker in the journal he purposely left in the car and started the engine. He must go back before he caught cold—thanks to a certain someone he was not dry yet when he was back to his _realm_.

“ _Hyung_ , where have you been? You didn’t find your camera? Do you want us to order new camera for you? Chansung and I saw a good deal on the net, do you want to take a look at it? What about looking at our pictures first? We have gathered tons of them. What do you want to do first, _Hyung_?” interrogated Wooyoung once Nichkhun appeared at the front door. Chansung and he bombarded the pitiful son of this resort’s owner, but all those ended up fruitless, since Nichkhun was dead tired and he walked briskly, deaf to the rest of the world. He didn’t heed Mike’s words although it was about his phone, too.

He went straight to his quarter like a walking dead. After bathing and changing his clothes, Nichkhun contemplated as he sat on his bed. He opened his journal and plucked the sticker. He must admit that this sparkly plastic thing was indeed familiar. He remembered he was obsessed with animal stickers in his earliest memories, but it could not be later than his eighth birthday since he retained the fondest piece of memories that fateful day when he was given his first camera—children’s camera, of course.

“I never really liked interacting with people until I had a camera, though,” he murmured, remembering. “I spent quite a lot of time in aquarium by the sea.”

He dropped himself backward and tried to forget about it. He fell asleep in no time, but then he sat up, wide awake. A thought just hit him at the back of his head.

“He said that it would be awkward for him to take an animal form, didn’t he?” Nichkhun said. He put his palms on the face, frustratingly trying to recall every bit of memories from his childhood, hair-splitting for anything that sounded similar to what Taecyeon told him. It was eerily… the same just with different words.

“That day,” he muttered after what it seemed like hours, “I helped a seal escape from its hunter. That seal was taken into the aquarium and treated for its grave wound for a couple of months. I went there every day and that seal was responding to my words—I named him King, right? But it was a freaking seal! I cried hard when they sent him off to the sea, so they let me put a sticker on his back. No way—no frigging way this could be real. What’s this? A freaking _otome_ game[3] where animals suddenly changed into hot guys? No way. No, Khun, no, pull yourself together!”

Nichkhun laughed nervously and shook his head. He lied down again and closed his eyes, chanting the spell that his thought was impossible.

*****

Nichkhun stood in front of the mirror. Mornings were always awfully bright in his room. Sunlight poured in from the big glass doors to the right of his four-poster bed, right through the white drapes hung at the doors. He could see the shore instantly whenever he turned to his right; it was nice and annoying at the same time, especially when he hardly had any sleep last night. He had washed his face and brushed his teeth. He changed his shirt with better one (this time with sleeves), and jeans. He posed and tried to look at his left side. The mirror was shorter than he was, so he could only see up to his lips if he stood straight.

“I will find him again today and let him tell me everything,” he murmured with determination. He, then, went to the lounge.

“ _Hyung_ , you got bags,” Chansung noted as soon as Nichkhun entered the lounge. He and Wooyoung were pigging as usual, first thing in the morning. Mike was behind the counter, making coffee apparently. Mike was a handsome, tall Thai man. He was younger than Nichkhun and could have pursued his career as an actor right now, but he said he needed a break, so he volunteered himself to run the resort for the Horvejkuls.

“I can’t sleep,” Nichkhun said, tacitly ordering a cup of coffee at the counter.

“You should stop looking for the camera,” Mike said, sliding a cup of coffee latte.

“Stop looking for your camera and buy a new one,” Wooyoung said, redundantly repeating Mike’s words because they were talking in different languages, gulping down his breakfast. “They still sell brand new Rebel, _Hyung_. You can go around the island again once the camera arrives. We will help you.”

“It’s not what I am thinking about right now,” Nichkhun said, sighing. He drank his coffee carefully. Chansung suddenly was enlightened.

“Don’t say that you have found him.”

Nichkhun spurted the coffee he was supposed to gulp down. Mike was quick enough to slide away; otherwise he would be covered by coffee mixed with Nichkhun’s saliva. Judging from the extreme reaction showed by their senior, Chansung and Wooyoung pointed their fingers at him.

“You keep this secret from us, don’t you, _Hyung_! How could you? You’ve been babbling about the man to us for the last six months, how could you keep such important update from us?” Wooyoung asked dramatically. “We deserve to know the updates!”

“I never said anything about finding anyone!” denied Nichkhun, quickly leaving the room before they demanded more than they could chew. He honestly did not want to tell them—at least not now. He still wasn’t sure about the man, so it was better for him to keep this from them.

“Wait, _Hyung_! Don’t dodge our questions! Tell us! Khun- _hyung_!” Chansung yelled. Unfortunately, their senior had fled before they could squeeze answers out of him.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

[1] John Company was how The East India Company, an English and later British joint-stock company founded in 1600 and ceased operation on 1874, informally called.

[2]Child's War was a war between the English East India Company and the Mughal Empire of India which lasted from 1686 to 1690.

[3] A game designated for young females (Japanese: _otome_ ) in the form of interactive stories with choices for the player to decide how the story progresses, generally referred as _Visual Novel_. One of most popular storylines for the game is where the player’s pets magically turn into beautiful men (or women, in male-protagonist game) that fight for the protagonist’s affection

* * *

 

 

_Next:  Our brave protagonist, Nichkhun is on the hunt. His mysterious man doesn't appreciate his persistence, but eventually, they bond._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nichkhun is on the hunt and he is not going to stop until Taecyeon yields and tells him everything. Taecyeon, however, says that he is not being secretive, but careful. But why?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Sorry.

# Act II: The Man who was King  


* * *

NICHKHUN didn’t quite understand it himself, but when he realized, he had found his way back to the edge of the woods. A familiar sigh greeted him from behind. Taecyeon, as expected, appeared as if he had always been there. This time he bowed and peeked at Nichkhun’s face curiously over the shoulders without saying anything. This made Nichkhun pivot, one leg ready to kick the figure behind him, of course, without success. The strange creature dodged it effortlessly. Either that or he actually was made of mist (another alternative was that he actually had ability to stop time for a few seconds—but that could not be true, right?).

“Can’t you appear like a human being?” Nichkhun asked, trying to sound mad to conceal the burning urge to throw himself at the man. Damn pheromone was working too well—was he also an insect?!

“Can’t you stop looking for me?” Taecyeon asked back.

“Help me find my camera, only then I will never look for you again.”

Nichkhun just blurted it to counter Taecyeon’s constant grim manner toward his peculiar will to keep searching for the strange half-naked man. Certainly, he wasn’t truly planning on stopping. The man enchanted his curiosity. He was like sweet nectar, enticing Nichkhun to constantly seek him out. It was as clear as day that Nichkhun absolutely had no intention to stop, but Taecyeon sighed—he actually believed it, it seemed, and it was not what Nichkhun wanted.

“I know where your camera is,” said he. “Do you promise that you will not return after I give it back to you?”

Knowing well that Nichkhun must play his way out of his words to keep his adventures, he said, “It depends. Who knows it wasn’t my camera, but just some random cameras you picked en route, _King_.”

“Oh, you remembered!” Taecyeon exclaimed, seemingly relieved. This irked Nichkhun. He did not hold back his voice when he shouted at Taecyeon, protesting with all his sanity and logic boiling:

“Don’t give me that! How am I supposed to believe that the seal I saved and befriended years ago is now a human being?!”

Innocently, Taecyeon parried, “I told you, didn’t I? I can transform into creatures.” Nichkhun crossed his arms, sarcastically remarking:

“As if I’d believe your words! Transform into creatures like who—Maui? Loki? Kars? Yizma?”

“Who?” Taecyeon asked, blankly reacting to the last two names.

Nichkhun shook his head, blaming himself for dropping popular culture references despite knowing this man claimed to be a _classic creature_ (what was he? Wine?! Art piece?). Taecyeon brushed it off and simply carried on with the conversation, gullibly explained:

“Maui, perhaps, but I don’t have magical hook and I don’t fight for humankind. I wasn’t sent away to the ocean by my mother and I definitely wasn’t raised by god. I don’t even have brothers. I only have one sister—oh, _had_ ,”—he quickly corrected himself, somewhat glumly—“Moreover, I am merely a selfish demigod who protects Mother Island, that’s all.”

“Wait, then, you’re saying that you _are_ a demigod?”

Nichkhun felt like talking to an asylum patient right now. This could not be true—there wasn’t anything that could prove this man’s words as facts. Nichkhun’s head was suddenly tackled by growing headache.

“I am a shapeshifter,” added Taecyeon—as if it helped at all. Nichkhun poignantly protested, accusing him of faking his profile.

“Then, how am I going to believe that you are you?”

“Khun,” Taecyeon began and Nichkhun’s heart fluttered at the sound of his name roll on that man’s tongue flawlessly, “My ability is to transform into other species. I can’t make myself anyone else. This is my human form. King that you knew is my seal form.”

“I don’t believe you,” firmly Nichkhun rejected. He swept his eyes from the top of Taecyeon’s head to his toe. A different thought flashed through his mind along with the simple, fundamental question: “How tall are you?”

“The last time I checked, it was still 196 cm. What of it?” Taecyeon answered.

“The hell I would ever believe that you were even human to begin with! How could a Korean get as tall as you are centuries ago? How am I to believe you _could_ change into a seal? King was much shorter than you! This is bullshit!”

Even with Nichkhun’s heated speech, Taecyeon just stared at him coolly. The fact that Taecyeon wasn’t disturbed by his lack of faith annoyed the Thai. The strange creature grabbed his wrist again, and brought him into the woods.

“I was about 180 cm back then—perhaps 185 or 186—but protecting Mother Island made me taller. I grew by ten centimeters in three hundred years. I have poor growth rate, don’t you think?”

Nichkhun poked him by the ribs, skeptically eyeing the man in envy. “As if. Weren’t you tall enough back then anyway? You were still taller than I am! More importantly, you should be grateful that you _still grew after you turned twenty_ , bastard!”

Taecyeon sniggered, acknowledging the commentary without a hitch. He, then, simply said, “Come.”

Nichkhun suddenly wondered, as they ventured together, whether or not this was _Twilight_. Did all shapeshifters have to remain bare-chested all the time? Not that he actually minded, but it was quite bizarre and extremely distracting. That bare back was quite a remarkable sight. Nichkhun had seen such back plenty of times—Schwarzenegger’s back counted—but he had never had unbelievably huge temptation to touch the back. Nichkhun also wondered if Taecyeon ever felt cold as he always wandered out in the wilderness half-naked, sometimes naked. (Yeah, we all want him not to catch cold from exposing too much skin as well, Khun. Nah, on second thought, the author’s good with it.)

They now stood by the cursed hole once again, the one that opened just after they were near—and Nichkhun was still against this. Fully acknowledging his fear, Taecyeon brought him in his arms and jumped into the spiraling all-creature-strangler water vortex that provided a black opening of Pringles can’s size at the center. _This is not_ The Smurfs _, right?_ Nichkhun thought fearfully. He never paid close attention to this freaking scary hole and he regretted that he finally did now.

However, the process was so much shorter than the first time. He hardly felt the _dying_ sensation from before and, truly, he was already on the land when he opened his eyes. He was still drenched head to toe, though. He looked over his shoulder, finding Taecyeon swim in the water, well, _balance_ in the middle. It was rather odd. He never noticed what was wrong until he was standing on the ground. Taecyeon’s strong, long legs were replaced by a swishing fishtail—a freaking _fishtail_!

“You!” Nichkhun shouted, pointing a finger at him. Taecyeon swam calmly toward him, causing him to stumble and land on his bottom.

“I always opt for a fishtail when I cross the vortex, especially when I bring someone with me. I rarely do, but it is far reassuring to be the perfect supportive host. The vortex, specifically the void, is hard to deal with a pair of legs,” explained Taecyeon, swinging his tail to the surface. Nichkhun shivered as he witnessed something that looked like ultra realistic CG-made feature plastered on a man’s body. It would be a CG-made scene if this were a film—but, flash news: This wasn’t!

“What are you?!” Nichkhun yelled.

“Come, I’ll take you to the place where I keep your camera.”

Taecyeon effectively ignored the question and offered his hand. Nichkhun blinked, staring blankly at the offered hand.

“Where?”

“Behind the waterfall,” Taecyeon answered.

“You mean I have to swim there? Swim in that…”

Nichkhun eyed the body water. It might be clear near the surface and unmistakably clean and fresh, but he could not see anything but water—definitely no sign of the bottom. He wasn’t a chicken—he wasn’t, he swore—but this was frightening. To think that he emerged from that place, it was too creepy. He looked at Taecyeon, who was as confident as a rooster on a roof, greeting the sun.

“I’ll hold you,” he consoled.

“Right…” Nichkhun said.

He reluctantly put off his waterlogged shoes and wristwatch. He wanted to take off his shirt, but he was feeling self-conscious right now, so no. He slowly went into the water, feet trembling on uneven rocky surface on the side. Taecyeon extended his arms, letting Nichkhun to hold on both… firmly. Those arms were hard rock, as sturdy as they looked. The rock he stepped on was unfortunately mossy and it sent him fumble toward Taecyeon. His heart leapt at the proximity of himself drowning and dying.

“You seem to be worried about the pool,” Taecyeon said wisely with a chuckle as he held Nichkhun safely in his embrace. “I will swim us there, then.” Nichkhun pulled away, awkwardly staring into Taecyeon’s eyes. He expected that they would have to stay in that position until they reached the waterfall, but Taecyeon carefully turned his body and embraced him from the back.

“This way, you won’t have to look into the water. Keep your eyes up. The sky is clear. It will calm you down,” whispered Taecyeon. It did not cease Nichkhun’s worries for a moment, but as Taecyeon began to move and he did as the strange man said, he relaxed.

He never truly appreciated the beauty of nature, but now he had a chance. The woods were vibrant green, greener than one he went through in the island alone (or wherever). The wind caressed the emerald leaves, causing canopies to dance lively against the endless blue sky. The sun touched all surfaces, glistened as its light was reflected by tiny drops of morning mist on the leaves or by colorful blossoms that bloomed on the ground, at the top of trees. He kept his eyes on the sky, then, and watched as fluffy cotton-like clouds slid inch by inch.

“Better?” Taecyeon asked.

Nichkhun suddenly was overly aware of their position. His back against the man’s chest, pressed with hardly any centimeters left between. The tail constantly brushed against his rear and legs. He only noticed it now, but Taecyeon’s tail didn’t move like merman’s (or mermaid’s) tail depicted in movies. It moved slickly right and left.

“Your tail…”

“Hm? What is wrong?” Taecyeon asked neutrally.

“It’s not… like what I imagined.”

“Well, I transform my lower half into my shark form; surely it is far from your view of merpeople. Sharks have great speed—they are top predators—I need that speed.”

“Then, you are not a merman. You are a shark-man!” excitedly Nichkhun remarked. Taecyeon chuckled and agreed readily.

“You may say so.”

They moved against the showering water from the top of the cliff. The water around them was re-circulating strongly as the force of plunging stream fluidly affected the still water at the base. Taecyeon’s movements did not change at all, even so, as calm and sturdy as how he passed unruffled water. Nichkhun saw as the layer of crystal clear water passed his head and body. The vibrant green and sunny light ceased, replaced by dim remnants of what engulfed everything outside.

Taecyeon slowly left Nichkhun, but before the latter could freak out about it, his back had met rough and cold rocky surface. Taecyeon swiftly climbed up with the support of his strong arms. Nichkhun watched as his tail gradually lost its shape and eventually returned to be a pair of legs. He, then, found something that he shouldn’t have been so embarrassed about. Nichkhun’s head began to think about indecent things that Taecyeon had _nothing_ to hide anymore.

“Come out from water, Khun,” the man said, crouching in front of him, offering a hand. Nichkhun blinked, distracted still. “Do you want me to put on my trunks first?”

“This is not safe for work,” Nichkhun mumbled, bashfully evicting eye contact as he accepted the hand and climbed onto the ground. As soon as he was standing, his eyes caught something else.

The cave was vast and it seemed that there were routes further ahead, just like an ants’ underground kingdom. Therefore, Nichkhun’s eyes could not tear away from a crystal throne in the center of the cave’s entrance. The rock formation was consisted of crystals: milky white, black, and green crystal. On top of it was an enormous emerald gemstone that had unmistakably _emerald_ _cut_ —it could not be naturally shaped like that, right? It shone gently and emitted comfortable aura that created airy and cozy atmosphere in the cave. Nichkhun felt, inside, that it called to him. He approached the beautiful stone and held out a hand. Taecyeon grabbed his wrist and pulled him away from the stone unexpectedly. Nichkhun looked at him questioningly, also bewilderedly.

“Your camera is this way,” Taecyeon said firmly, tugging him to the right.

Nichkhun should be distracted by the huge gemstone sitting on crystal throne, shaped unnaturally like _human-made_ , and should be tempted to investigate it more—perhaps taking a picture of it would be nice right after he found the camera—but he could only think about the hand that was holding his wrist. It was sturdy and callous—as expected from such a man—but his grip wasn’t harsh, borderline gentle. Nichkhun fixated his eyes on the man’s occiput and flex back. He had never been tempted to lick someone’s skin as he currently felt. He blamed Taecyeon for not wearing anything. Oh, yes—he casted his eyes down. Nichkhun cleared his throat in panic, appreciating what he saw, but afraid that he would lose his cool any second later he kept his eyes there. Certainly, Nichkhun was too absorbed in checking Taecyeon’s potentials out that he didn’t realize the man had brought him into a curious room.

It was undoubtedly a chamber in a cave, cool and dark inside, but instead of having primeval type of decoration such as roll of animal skin on the cold floor and stone equipments, what Taecyeon had inside was dangerously modern. First seen as they entered was the bed, a double bed that exceeded Taecyeon’s height. It was like a copy of typical nobility’s bedding, with dark wood as the body and indigo cover that suspiciously looked like velvet. Next to it was a supremely made wardrobe, complete with silver mirror accompanying it. There also was a mahogany desk and its chair. On top of the desk, books and papers piled up, pens and inkwells were, too. Nichkhun’s eyes, however, quickly hooked on a particular item. It was none other than his prized possession: his camera!

“Is this your camera?” Taecyeon asked, taking the camera from his desk and handing it to Nichkhun, as gently as one would pass a child to another person.

“Le—let me check first,” stuttered Nichkhun, receiving the camera. He blinked rapidly and tried hard to refocus himself (he was a pro, his camera was his everything!). He pushed the power button and waited as familiar vibration spread to his limbs and the smooth sound was heard. The camera was in perfect condition despite whatever it had gone through the other day. He opened the gallery and looked through the pictures. It truly was as he lost it. Everything was in its place.

“This is my camera,” he declared happily.

“Splendid,” Taecyeon exclaimed. “Then, shall we?”

He offered his arm, implying that he was ready to bring Nichkhun back home. Nichkhun stared at the arm, hesitating as predicted. He hooked his arm around the other’s, but as Taecyeon led him out, he stopped and stood his ground with all his might.

“I don’t want to go yet,” Nichkhun said. He was looking at the smooth ground and his damp bare feet, unable to lift his eyes anywhere near Taecyeon’s line of sight. His voice didn’t shake, but it was full of desperation and embarrassment. “Can’t I spend time a little bit longer here? Weren’t we good friends back then? King was my good friend. He understood me, but I never understood him. If you really are him, then I will want to speak with you. I want to hear King’s stories.”

“Well,” Taecyeon started, “I suppose it is only fair for me to do so.” Nichkhun looked up in disbelief. The strange man smirked mischievously at him. “I will put on my trunks.”

*****

They were back in the land across the waterfall. Nichkhun saw that the emerald could be seen clearly even from the outside. The curtain of water blocked hardly a strand of shine. The stone itself emitted cool light from its core. Nichkhun was amazed and he was tempted to take a picture of it. Feared that it wouldn’t be allowed, he just attempted to see how the emerald would look like in a photograph by peeping through his camera. It was perfect and mesmerizing, but he wouldn’t push the button.

“Are you not pushing the button?” Taecyeon asked as he emerged, again, from thin air right next to Nichkhun’s right ear, his chin brushed against his shoulder. Nichkhun jumped in surprise and impulsively slapped the man on the chest.

“Can you stop? I might die from cardiac attack!” Nichkhun begged, panting hard. The man was laughing merrily at his reaction.

“How could I? Your reactions are to die for. Can you blame me?” Taecyeon said between his roaring laughter. Nichkhun’s cheeks turned red because of his rage. His pout came out, too, unconsciously.

“That’s not nice!”

“You liked it whenever I did that in the aquarium,” Taecyeon said, attacking sore spot like a professional guilt-tugging drama lead. Nichkhun stopped and opened his mouth to protest, but it was true and even he could not deny it. He clenched his jaw and turned away.

“But you… you were a _seal_!”

That was the best argument Nichkhun could come up with right now. Taecyeon grinned and suddenly he was a seal, happily clapping and rolling about Nichkhun’s legs. Nichkhun secretly was relieved that King was back. He did not think he could handle being around a man as hot as Taecyeon any longer—even though he knew he himself was a hot stuff, too—and King was his childhood friend, that wasn’t quite human and his libido trigger was strictly limited to his own species, so this was the safest option.

“You are bigger than I remembered,” said Nichkhun, broadly grinning now. He took pictures of the happy giant seal until he was knocked down by aforementioned seal. Nichkhun was glad that he really did not feel anything other than innocent happiness as this happened. Well, until Ok Taecyeon seemingly decided that King wasn’t properly equipped for pinning Nichkhun down.

“I had no trouble recognizing you in Hawaii since you did not change much since you were a child. I couldn’t help but admire because you have grown so beautifully,” Taecyeon said warmly, but his iron-grip on Nichkhun’s wrists wasn’t as warm as his words. The combination was oddly… sensational.

“Let me go, you freak,” Nichkhun said, laughing shyly as he tried to flee from locking eye contact. Taecyeon chuckled at his attempt to free himself, knowing well that Nichkhun was not going to win.

“I wish I could keep you with me,” said Taecyeon.

He, then, released his grip and climbed off Nichkhun. He sat there, back facing Nichkhun. He somehow emitted an aura of longing, a tacit sign of loneliness that resurfaced after lengthy hiding. Nichkhun roused and sat next to the foreign creature, curiously peeking at the handsome face that now was staring at the perfect blue sky.

“Aren’t you lonely?” he asked thoughtlessly. He was about to ratify the question, afraid that he had overstepped the boundary, but Taecyeon responded casually.

“That I am. I was a man surrounded by friends and family, then, certainly a couple hundreds of years living alone will make a normal man burst with madness.”

“You are not normal, though,” Nichkhun blurted, again. Taecyeon chuckled.

“True,” he agreed readily. He leered at Nichkhun, a smile played coyly on his face. Nichkhun, trying to hinder from painful truth that he was easily affected by this strange man, held up his camera and aimed at the man before him. It was a close-up shot anyhow. Taecyeon didn’t waver and just fixed his eyes on Nichkhun, at the hidden eyes behind the shutter, unblinking.

“You are not bothered by camera?” Nichkhun asked curiously, partially to make Taecyeon turn away with no result whatsoever.

“No.”

“Isn’t taking your pictures forbidden, like, every other cliché in feature films?” Nichkhun tried again, constantly taking pictures.

“If so, I wouldn’t even show myself to you in Hawaii,” replied Taecyeon.

“Ah, right,” Nichkhun sheepishly admitted. He ended up being the one to turn away.

“You can photograph anything in here, even the emerald. You have been waiting to do so, haven’t you?” Taecyeon explained mischievously. Nichkhun scrunched his nose and made a face because it was true and he hated it whenever someone read him like a book. He loved being unpredictable.

“How did you know?”

“Learn subtlety, then,” Taecyeon said mockingly. Nichkhun head-butted the man; a will that came out of nowhere. Taecyeon should have felt pain now, especially around the jaw. Nichkhun definitely hit him hard (because his skull throbbed hard from impact against the man’s sturdy jaw), but the odd creature only laughed as he caressed the supposedly damaged area.

“Are you hungry? I will go and find you proper human food I sadly do not store nor need daily,” Taecyeon said, kindly offering. Nichkhun blinked.

“Are you not used to proper human food?”

“With an ability to transform and live as any other species, Khun, it is easier to eat as other species then the fussy human whenever I want to eat. Being human is tough,” answered Taecyeon innocently. He stood up and asked, “Fruits or fish?”

“Can’t I have both? ‘Both’ is good,” Nichkhun said. Chuckling, Taecyeon shook his head. He bowed and took Nichkhun’s hand. He kissed the knuckle before stepping back and transforming into a mighty eagle right before Nichkhun’s eyes. He was left jaw-slacked at the ascending eagle far above in the clear, blue sky.

“I should have taken some pictures,” Nichkhun said after the eagle was eventually out of his sight. It was hard to believe, but seeing really was the root of believing!

*****

Nichkhun felt quite out of place as he waited for Taecyeon to come back from wherever he went. The forest was incredibly quiet. He swore he could hear the sound of an acorn drop from its tree to the soft hummus-layered forest floor, and the sound of plants growing toward the sun. It was audible even with the waterfall was nearby. Nichkhun walked about and took photographs of various things, like fiddleheads. Their color was vibrantly jade green. What amazed him the most was the fact that the ferns glistened marvelously as if they were made of jade. He discovered at least five different types of orchids nearby as well. The colors were majestically exaggerated. The yellow ones looked as if they swallowed and then produced sunlight afterward. The mauve ones were lush with blush, provoking even an ignorant human’s interest. The yellow ones with purple spots were spitting an image of golden robes with indigo patterns. Even though these weren’t new for Nichkhun’s eyes, the beauty was incomparable. He finally realized how many palm trees that dominated the woods. No wonder he was scratched badly everywhere. Palm leaves were the devil; why else they were commonly weaved for various purposes?

“These would be great for promotion, but people can’t easily visit this place,” Nichkhun muttered, admiring the pictures in the camera. “I don’t think I would want to add this place in that kind of business.” He smiled and went to capture the enormous stone in the cave. The picture did very little justice to the real beauty of Mother Island’s emerald.

“I wonder if this emerald has some powers in it…” Nichkhun murmured, recalling the moment Taecyeon stopped him from laying down his hand on the stone.

“Grilled fish and fruit salad,” Taecyeon said. He appeared as he usually did; freaked the hell out of Nichkhun as usual, too. Taecyeon chuckled as he slung an arm around Nichkhun’s shoulders and brought him toward the spot he had prepared.

Nichkhun sighed, twice: First to relieve his shock, second to ease his tightening chest. He followed the lead and sat before a pile of fragrant grilled fish on a wide fresh leaf and a bowl of cubed mixed fruits. The bowl itself was of curious design. It was obviously made out of roots or fibers, twined skillfully into a bowl, and then topped with leaves to prevent any piece of fruit fall off. It suddenly felt as if he was back in the resort or Gizo City itself.

“Did you… buy these?” Nichkhun asked.

“Certainly you didn’t think that I were able to engage in normal trading customs, did you, Khun?” Taecyeon asked back, visibly adoring Nichkhun as if he was a toddler that just learnt to speak fluently despite the cute mispronunciation. “Do you want to try and choke me this time?” Taecyeon challenged with wide toothy grin.

Nichkhun surrendered the thought—that exactly as Taecyeon said—and photographed the food instead. This could pass as local delicacy, so he might as well as use this. He wished he had brought his bag. He could have produced better pictures with different lenses.

“Are you not eating?”

“I am eating, I am eating!” Nichkhun snapped at the pestering host. He halted abruptly as Taecyeon came close out of the blue. Taecyeon took the camera and removed it from Nichkhun’s neck. He put it on the ground, on top of a leaf.

“You don’t work when you eat. As much as I hate to admit it, Frenchmen taught a good lesson about it,” Taecyeon said. Nichkhun didn’t understand—more like he didn’t quite hear whatever Taecyeon said because his heart pounded so hard that his ears were full of the drumming heartbeat. “Taste the food and tell me how they taste. It has been long since I cooked, so it might not be as good as I intended.”

Nichkhun snapped himself out of daze and reached out for the grilled fish first. There were scratches on the fish’s skin. He wondered if Taecyeon dived and grabbed the fish with his deathly claw earlier—it was plausible, though. He took a bite. He widened his eyes. He didn’t expect that Taecyeon would give him proper human food when he saw him transform into a giant bird earlier, lest that he would give him food worthy of a Michelin star!

“How?”

Taecyeon only laughed when Nichkhun asked this, even when he practically was choked by erratic Nichkhun after he tasted the fruit salad. Taecyeon refused to explain anything by laughing and feeding Nichkhun by hand—this was proven as most effective way to stop the photographer from keeping his constant questions. When the meal was over, the day was also nearing its end.

“Let’s go, Khun, it’s almost night,” Taecyeon said, plucking the used leaves and gently putting them in the water.

“I don’t want to go back yet,” Nichkhun said petulantly. Taecyeon sighed as he saw Nichkhun step further away from where he crouched.

“Come, Khun.”

“Don’t force me. You are not that kind of person. You want me here, don’t you?” Nichkhun cunningly said. Taecyeon’s tanned face subtly showed change of color, indicating that the words affected him. “I don’t understand why you keep saying that it’s dangerous for me to stay the night here, but admit it, if I stay with you here, I will be safe, right?”

Nichkhun was desperate not to be shunned away again. There were tons of questions he had that yet to be answered. He wanted to know everything about Taecyeon. He could not forget about Taecyeon “being thrown off the ship” when he was twenty-eight. Forget the job, he wanted to know why and how Taecyeon end up in his photos.

“Even though I cannot argue with your words, Khun,” Taecyeon said, standing up slowly and dramatically, “I would greatly appreciate it if you went home.”

Nichkhun sensed something was off about Taecyeon as he stood there. Sun finally set and dark quickly conquered the land. Nichkhun felt a tug at his sleeve, a whisper to his ear that told him to swim to the waterfall. The grass and flowers gradually lit as if electricity flowed into their veins. Fireflies gathered around and sweet, dreamy tranquil nature song emerged, but the shape-shifting man didn’t look tranquil at all. He turned darker as time went by and increased in size. He was transforming into some sort of beast that never once in his life Nichkhun had ever seen.

He eventually listened to the constant warning that came out of thin air and he dared himself to plunge into the water he was so afraid of. He swam erratically toward the waterfall, hardly seeing anything. He crawled as quickly as possible into the cave and searched for the room where his camera was earlier today. He could faintly hear horrendous groan. He was thankful that he had a large gap between himself and Taecyeon right now, unlike the Dwarves Company and skin-changer, Beorn.

He sighed at his drenched state. Although doubting himself, he stripped down, naked. He approached the curious wardrobe and found that there were clothes there. They were big, undoubtedly of Taecyeon’s size. As expected, most of them were clothes that you could only see in the movies, not even loyal retainers of Queen of England wore these anymore. Nichkhun thought, although he did find underwear there, it would be better for him to borrow only outwear. He dried himself with a soft towel and then put on a pair of plain pants and poet shirt, and went to bed. It was surprising that it was unbelievably comfortable and there wasn’t even a speck of dust or unpleasant smell lingered on the bed. It would be nice if Taecyeon’s heavenly fragrant was there, though… Nichkhun drifted away into dreamland with that thought.

*****

There wasn’t blinding morning sunshine that interrupted his sleep today, but soft, cool touch that caressed his hair. It had been years since he received such touches first thing in the morning and his first reaction was to grasp the hand from which the caresses came and pull whoever owned it, so he could kiss the owner to return the favor. The owner didn’t try to do anything against his wishful action and just let it happen. A whisk of familiar fragrance snapped him to his senses. He suddenly was wide awake, eyes open, but his mouth was occupied and seemingly reluctant to part ways with the other. It was Taecyeon, of course, who was kissing him softly. His hands were holding him up just enough not to crush Nichkhun’s body with his—although Nichkhun wouldn’t mind if he let his body weighed on his completely anyway, but he wouldn’t tell him that.

“Are you awake now? I brought your camera back. You left it outside last night,” Taecyeon said as he pulled away, pointing at the desk. Nichkhun didn’t realize it at first, but now he did, that he was hugging the man’s neck. He retracted the arms urgently as blush on his cheeks deepened. He leered at the desk to confirm his camera’s location, but he did not actually think about it right now. Taecyeon sighed with a smile. He moved away and sat with hunched back at the edge of the bed.

“Just when I thought the worst had passed,” he said, sighing deeply.

“What do you mean?” Nichkhun demanded, sensing that Taecyeon had just expressed guilt for kissing him—no way, Nichkhun would not accept that.

“You are my only friend that still lives today; I have a certain sentiment for you. I don’t want to spoil it, but you keep insisting on staying with me. I am, after all, a man, Khun. Regardless that you are also a man, I crave for physical pleasure.”

Nichkhun’s body was now alarmingly red. Taecyeon’s honesty was deadly. He didn’t try to conceal anything despite his usual choice of words. Nichkhun, as the other had said, was a man, too. He wasn’t some damsel that would shy away from this kind interaction. Honestly, he had been holding back because he thought Taecyeon wasn’t interested—he _did_ say he didn’t plan to sow seeds anywhere for the time being. Nichkhun approached Taecyeon carefully and purposely glued his side to the bare arm.

“What are you doing?” Taecyeon asked, uncharacteristically alarmed. His tone had changed and his composure was slightly shifted. Nichkhun could feel that he was a tad frenetic, taken aback by Nichkhun’s sudden approach.

“What was the worst that you thought had passed?” Nichkhun questioned, opting a tactile approach than aggressive move as he tried to read the mood. Taecyeon suddenly built up an invisible wall, wary of Nichkhun’s closeness. He leered at Nichkhun, somehow cooled down afterward.

“To see you watch me become the horrid guardian that I am every sundown,” blatantly Taecyeon replied. He averted his gaze and continued with more melancholic expression, “I absorb all that taint the beauty of Mother Island’s beloved governed regions. It is some sort of detoxification that also empowers me. I lied. I don’t eat normal food anymore ever since I started living as Mother Island’s guardian. I only consume toxics since although I might still be able to eat like a human being. As long as I am not wounded before I go out to clean at nights.”

“Oh… but… you don’t harm anyone, right?” Nichkhun tried to lift the mood.

“I don’t, but I might. That’s why I always want you to leave before sunset,” Taecyeon said grimly. “I… have you ever heard of the tale of cannibals in Gizo and the remaining two persons that survived?”

“Yes, everyone who travels here must have,” Nichkhun readily answered.

“Do you want to hear the whole story?” Taecyeon offered.

“Oh, yes, please! Tell me from the top, from how you become who you are,” Nichkhun said, eyes sparkled at the chance of finding answers. Taecyeon let his wall drop and returned to his usual self as he saw Nichkhun’s boyish glimmering curiosity.

“It was all started with my parents being stranded in England along with several Koreans. I went through a never-ending discrimination for my whole life as a Korean descent. You know how people think someone like us are all the same, don’t you?”—Nichkhun nodded boldly—“Just because I managed to study better than most people and I was a little bit tougher than common seamen, I was immediately disliked.”

“You said about John Company before, didn’t you?” Nichkhun asked. “You worked on a ship, then?” Taecyeon nodded, confirming.

“An acquisition was considered harsh for some people. I was originally made a governor, but the one I was supposed to replace didn’t accept it well. He and his loyal followers arranged a ploy that caused me to be cast away from the ship. I found myself alive even after a terrible storm that drowned me. It was Mother Island. She found me and wanted me to live, so she granted me immortality. She said she saw me as a son and a knight. I was happy albeit incomplete since I cannot return whence I came. I represented her to put the cannibalistic practice to end and I saved a woman and her son. Only these two remained from the whole dispute. I took them to live with me here, but they chose to leave in the end. I never realized how much time passed as I lived here. My only regret was I outlive everyone I knew.”

Nichkhun had always hated the concept of immortality. He loathed people who dreamt of eternal life—loathed and pitied them. To live forever meant they would live longer than everyone else. As time went by, people around them would eventually pass away. There was nothing worse than watching the ones you loved die before your very eyes. Nichkhun immediately empathized.

“I did not want to weave any deep bond with any humans, Khun, but it seems fate told me to stop when I met you,” Taecyeon confessed. “I could not even greet you when I saw you in Hawaii because I was afraid. You are a brave man, though.” A hint of blush crept on his cheeks while Nichkhun’s cheeks were bright red because of the sudden compliment.

“So… do you fear that being my friend will be painful?”

“Honestly, Khun, I never thought of being your friend,” Taecyeon bluntly stated. His gaze and voice both changed drastically. Nichkhun shrunk like a weak prey in front of its predator. It was the first time he saw this side of Taecyeon ever since they met—he did not remember King the Seal ever emitted this kind of vibe before. Nichkhun turned his eyes away, body immediately responded positively toward Taecyeon’s aggressive stance.

“Then… then what did you think of me?” Nichkhun slightly stuttered.

Unexpectedly, Taecyeon didn’t reply. He closed the distance remaining between them, grabbing Nichkhun by the chin and kissing him. Nichkhun instinctively lied down as he responded. The hand wandered down his arm, the callous fingertips met his palm. Taecyeon rolled his thumb on Nichkhun’s middle finger while his other finger caressed the fleshy part. It wasn’t much, but all of sudden, his legs began to feel… agitated. He curled the toes continuously as a foreign sensation took over his body. It awakened his desire more than anything else he had ever known. He had grown impatient because of it.

“I never imagined you would whimper desperately as you do now, Khun,” Taecyeon whispered. Nichkhun grabbed Taecyeon by the hair, gone mad because of the torturing libido he had now, and clashed their lips.

“Shu—shut up! I’ll let you in; don’t you know how lucky you are?” Nichkhun harshly said albeit his voice obviously showed that he was practically begging Taecyeon as he bit the lips—quite mercilessly and messily.

“I _do_ know, Khun, but I am determined to show you what you have never experienced with anyone else before,” Taecyeon said, amused. He pushed Nichkhun back to bed, pinning him resolutely so that the other man would stop being _violently eager_.

The strange creature started with more touches on spots Nichkhun never imagined would be erogenous: The joints between his shoulders and arms, the knuckles, his cheekbones, knees, and heels. He also paid close attention to every single beauty mark Nichkhun owned on his neck—front and back—his face, his ears, all that was visible. Taecyeon’s callous fingers slid gently and attentively, mapping the contour. There was tiny electric shock that followed as they touched his skin, and every spot. His ear was filled by low hums that Taecyeon did, vibrating like small-scaled earthquake, or perhaps just a massager chair. Nichkhun’s line of sight was focused on the dim room’s dark ceiling. It might be just him, but the ceiling seemed to glisten, twinkling and sparkling as if it were grey crystallites under exposure of the sun. Taecyeon kissed his collarbone and smoothed his chest through the fabric of his shirt. He leered at the half-naked one.

“Don’t you like seeing me in your clothes?” he asked teasingly. Taecyeon looked up and grinned.

“I like seeing you in general, why won’t I like seeing you in my clothes specifically? Certainly, it is arousing,” replied Taecyeon confidently, slipping a hand beneath the shirt. Nichkhun gasped. His practically useless body part, nipples, twitched in excitement.

“Girls like being touched here,” Nichkhun said, pressing his breasts seductively.

Taecyeon chuckled, but he blushed a bit while his pupils dilated instantly. He gently removed Nichkhun’s left hand from his chest and replaced it with his own. He whispered as his hand massaged the chest. Nichkhun bit his lower lip, blushed even more, and nodded. Taecyeon lowered himself, bringing his mouth to the clothed nipple to tease it with tongue, teeth, and lips. Nichkhun was satisfied—he laughed nervously as he couldn’t hold back mellifluous moan that flowed out of his red lips.

“You have been with five persons,” suddenly Taecyeon stated after he pulled off the pants Nichkhun wore and proceeded to touch the hardened device with his soldier’s hand.

“How—how did you—you know?” Nichkhun enquired, body quivered from sensational signals that spread radically throughout his cells. It was just a hand-job, but it felt a bit too much that Nichkhun was suddenly very _near_.

“I read it in your body, Khun. It is engraved so clearly. Three women and two men, but none of them stayed long enough for you. They were all experimental for you although you were truly fond of them. The levels of sentiment for each other between you and them have always been too different,” Taecyeon resumed, caressing Nichkhun’s cheekbone with his free hand. The pale tourist gasped, grabbed the wrist, and forced the thumb to his lips. Half-lidded, he mewled and came. The host leaned down and captured his lips. Without Nichkhun knowing, he had begun to prepare the entrance. One could only feel one thing at a time and Nichkhun’s focus was now the fierce kiss.

“Will you not use me as a vessel now?” Nichkhun asked breathily between the kiss.

“Not now,” Taecyeon answered firmly yet softly.

“Why not?” Nichkhun asked again, demanding to know although he should not want to—he was not a seahorse! _Right?!_ But Nichkhun had grown possessive over the man within the last few minutes. He wanted Taecyeon for himself—this was how girls usually did it, right? Bearing their child would force the father to stay; at least if the father had decent sense of humility, the percentage would go up to 90%. _The hell were you thinking, Khun? You lost your sight!_

“Not now,” Taecyeon repeated himself, smirking mischievously.

He pulled away a few inches only so he could see Nichkhun’s face clearly. Nichkhun’s legs were pushed gently, apart and toward his body. Before he was fully aware of what near future held for him, he let out a choked sound. Something entered him by the rear, sliding in smoothly and expanding the hole. It strangely did not hurt. It was sheathed inside swiftly as natural as a sword into its scabbard. Nichkhun felt it burn his walls, pulsing gently, but it was merely because it was hot, just like Taecyeon’s touches.

“Why doesn’t it hurt?” Nichkhun asked. He was so full of questions because his bed-partner was an embodiment of a thousand mysteries.

“Why would you want it to hurt?” Taecyeon asked back, smiling as he was regaining his composure after clenching his teeth and tightening his jaw due to the sensation of being sheathed inside Nichkhun.

“Uh… because _first time hurts_?” Nichkhun innocently answered.

“Only savages hurt their partner during first time,” Taecyeon stated solemnly. He cut off the conversation and pounded slowly, testing water. Nichkhun laughed and moaned, amused and aroused—he was confused with what he actually felt right now. He hooked his hands around Taecyeon’s neck.

The man found his rhythm immediately. He leaned further down, letting Nichkhun hug him tighter. He sped up and plunged deeper, earning delicious moans from sweet lips a few inches away from his. Nichkhun’s face was contorted. His lips formed a circle. His eyes glazed, only half open. His lofty eyebrows were raised and gathered at the middle, pulled upward. His pale skin red and glistening. The shirt he wore now rolled up to his ribcage, exposing his abdomen. Taecyeon kissed his face and warmed up his exposed middle part. Nichkhun should be responding with conscience, but his mind was lost as soon as Taecyeon found the correct button inside him and hit it repeatedly.

“Why are you evading my eyes?” Taecyeon promptly asked directly to Nichkhun’s earlobe. His beautiful partner turned his face away, lip bitten desperately, and eyes shut tightly. Taecyeon pulled out abruptly, causing Nichkhun to let out an angry protest.

“Why?”

“Turn around,” Taecyeon said gently. Nichkhun blushed, embarrassed. He had forgotten that it was normal to change position during sex (ha, ha—not funny, Author).

He rolled to his stomach, and positioned himself on all four. Taecyeon re-entered him and efficiently resumed the pace. Nichkhun’s energy was rapidly drained as his pleasure-trigger continuously hit, not to mention Taecyeon never stopped his considerate touches and kisses. His arms lost first. He draped his upper half completely on the bed, head back on the pillow. He initially burrowed his face in the pillow to muffle his voice, but then he craned his neck, watching Taecyeon from there. He watched as Taecyeon’s muscles flexed, sweat rolled down his bronze skin, and, _oh_ , his furrowed eyebrows and glaring eyes fixated on Nichkhun’s as soon as he found that Nichkhun was watching.

“I’m going to come,” Taecyeon said gruffly.

“I… I’m… I… too!” Nichkhun incoherently responded. He never came twice in one session before—he concluded later that bottoming was quite awesome, but maybe that was because his partner was good.

Taecyeon slightly changed their position without pulling out. Nichkhun was lying on his side; his leg was on Taecyeon’s shoulder. The pounding turned erratic all of sudden and Nichkhun was losing his mind again. His finger dug into bed, his toes curled, his chest clenched, his balls squeezed their contents, and his hole twitched. Taecyeon leaned forward and grunted. He slammed as deep as possible and filled the cave with his life-bearing milky substance. Nichkhun clam his hole further and hungrily milk Taecyeon dry. They both breathed shakily in each other’s arms a few seconds after. They looked into each other’s eyes, touched their foreheads, and sloppily kissed each other. They wrapped their limbs together again and waited for the heat to cool down—but it did not happen as they originally intended.

“Let’s do it again,” Nichkhun proposed. He wasn’t as shy as people thought— _nah_.

“I will be forced to dispose this bed later if we do,” Taecyeon said, baring his teeth in preparation of proposed second round. Nichkhun giggled, grinding his member against the other’s. Judging from the increasing volume of both devices, it was clear that round two was confirmed.

“We can always do it without bed,” Nichkhun unwisely remarked, but Taecyeon did not seem to disagree at all. In fact, he growled and initiated the _real_ second session without further ado—Nichkhun laughed happily at the out-of-control Taecyeon.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The drama of murder and revenge rooted from three hundreds ago. Of the demigod, the descendant, and the emerald.

# Act II: The Man of Three-Hundred-Year Old Rage  


* * *

 

NICHKHUN could not sit still. He kept fidgeting, shifting on his butt cheeks timely. A lazy smile was plastered on his handsome face, definitely exhibiting his satisfaction and contentment. It was a nice afternoon, the sun was shining brightly above, but it was cool where he stayed. Nichkhun was far too happy not to stay longer there after their morning steamy sessions. The mysterious creature sat across him, watching with a wide smile instead of joining the feast that he prepared for Nichkhun.

“I am still wondering, though, why don’t you want to eat like a normal human? Don’t you miss human food? They are awesome, you know?” Nichkhun asked as he, once again, sat on grassy patch by the water, eating organic food. Taecyeon raised his eyebrows and blinked, then shrugged.

“Sometimes I do miss eating French and Italian food, but I don’t do what I don’t need, so I don’t try to eat,” he answered effectively. Nichkhun had expected Taecyeon to have such taste-buds, so it was hardly surprising to hear it directly from the person.

“Demigods don’t normally eat like people?” he instead carried on the topic, interested enough to find out the oddity of his new romantic interest’s physiology, “Demigods are half-human, half-god, aren’t they? I thought in Greek myth, only real gods get to eat divine food. Heracles didn’t get to eat it at first, right?”

The self-proclaimed demigod chuckled and confirmed the statement. He shifted on his spot slightly. “It’s not that, Khun,” Taecyeon started to explained. “Demigods normally eat, but their foods vary. The Norse gods eat normally as their people, in addition of Idunn’s golden apples, even the Jotunns. Chinese gods feast on heavenly peaches once a year and they have the highest number of gods, I suppose, but I don’t know any of them. I just read about them some time during the 19th, but I never was able to explore further. Opium war.” He shrugged, chuckled at the private joke that went over Nichkhun’s head just now. He constantly forgot that Taecyeon technically was an Englishman despite being Korean, and he had lived through historical events Nichkhun only able to know via textbooks—or any other events that he had absolutely no idea about.

“Then, eat with me,” Nichkhun said, excitedly holding out a chunk of sautéed fish he was supposed to eat himself. Taecyeon narrowed his eyes, but he accepted the offer gingerly. Nichkhun beamed at this.

“It’s delicious,” said Taecyeon, licking his lips.

“That’s one way to show how narcissistic you are,” jeered Nichkhun mischievously. The other man clicked his tongue and suddenly moved to Nichkhun’s side. He leaned down and positioned his face next to Nichkhun’s ear.

“Your fingers are delicious,” he whispered. Nichkhun blew up like steamed bun in the steamer, freshly exposed to open air. He laughed coyly and began to push Taecyeon away by the chest. It began to look that Nichkhun was here to stay.

As once again dusk approached, Taecyeon had hard time convincing Nichkhun to go back home. The last possible option was to swim him to the waterfall and let him stay in the cave chamber for another night; however, Nichkhun wouldn’t let him go as he was ready for bed, in bed. Nichkhun wrapped his limbs around Taecyeon, stubbornly demanding for the host to stay with him for the night.

“I must go, Khun, please let go off me,” begged Taecyeon.

“Please, just for tonight, accompany me,” Nichkhun insisted, his face buried in Taecyeon’s chest. Taecyeon didn’t reject his embrace, lest he tried to tear himself away although he was more than capable to do so. Nichkhun knew, as he observed the gentle gestures, that Taecyeon would never force something upon him. He, then, said, “The power doesn’t reach within the walls of this cave. You won’t transform into that dark guardian if you stay here with me. Please, Taecyeon, sleep here with me tonight.”

“If I stay,” the man said, “will you return home tomorrow?”

“Why would you want me to return home?” Nichkhun asked sharply, sounding offended by the deal offer.

“You have a life outside, Khun,” carefully Taecyeon explained, “Don’t you reckon that your friends and family are terribly worried about you right now? I do not wish to steal you away from them.”

“Fine,” Nichkhun said, pouting even though Taecyeon wouldn’t be able to see it. He would love it if Taecyeon stole him away from them. Well, he should at least tell his friends and family that he would move in to a place with his _lover_ , now he just thought about it since his conscience somehow became clearer just a moment ago.

“I will go back tomorrow, but only if you sleep with me tonight.”

“Then, I will stay.”

Taecyeon was a man of his words. He did not need sleep—so he mentioned to Nichkhun—but he lied himself on the bed, enveloping Nichkhun in his embrace. As night rolled on and dawn crawled back to the foot of sky, Taecyeon’s eyes snapped open, all senses fully functioning. Nichkhun woke up a few hours after the first light. He nuzzled into the warm and sturdy embrace of his new romantic interest, earning a hearty chuckle.

“You slept soundly,” commented Taecyeon.

“You drained out my strength yesterday, of course I slept soundly,” Nichkhun said, quite annoyed, but the smile on his face didn’t make it believable at all.

They stared at each other for a couple of minutes, and then they kissed. Without words, they had initiated another morning bed scene. Just before midday, they wrapped up their hilariously steamy session. Taecyeon himself dressed Nichkhun in Nichkhun’s original clothes and equipments because the latter was incredibly reluctant to go—who would blame him, though? They were still kissing ferociously when they left the chamber, walking together toward the cave entrance. Nichkhun was walking backward, unaware of his surroundings. Taecyeon grabbed his hands, dragging them down from his shoulders. Suddenly, Nichkhun’s palm met something cool and smooth. The moment he comprehended what he just touched, he was no longer in the cave.

Nichkhun stood in the middle of a room that was showered by tropical sunshine. Everything was white. It took him a few minutes to finally realize that he was in his resort room, between the bloody mirror and the bed. He blinked and looked around again, pinching his cheek in case this was just an illusion—it wasn’t, unfortunately. He touched his lips. The feeling of Taecyeon’s mouth on his was not a distant memory, but the flame that burnt him a moment ago had now been cooled thoroughly. He thought of himself as a racer sitting in a race car, going over 160 after a left turn, checkered flag seen up ahead, the tower was merely one second away, but poof! He found himself in a still car, engine off, in the garage. Door closed. _Infuriating!_

“What the…”

*****

This was irresponsible, one might say, for Nichkhun to abandon his so-called assistants and disappear for more than 24 hours. The last time anyone saw him was yesterday, after breakfast, when he stormed off, leaving the resort and going toward the woods. Chansung and Wooyoung had immediately begun to seek him two hours after his departure, but they failed to find him. They assumed that he might roam about the island once more, resuming whatever he was doing the day before as well as looking for his missing camera. However, as dusk passed and another sunrise came to greet them, Nichkhun hadn’t come back. There was no sign of him at all. More than anything, they were worried about his well-being. What if he was harmed? What if he fell somewhere and unable to return?

“I have had everyone questioned about him,” Mike reported to the young photographers first thing in the morning, when breakfast was served. Thank goodness Mike actually was able to understand Korean, so they could communicate. “They saw him walk into the forest again, but ever since he has yet to emerge from it. He usually went in the morning and out during dusk, but this is unusual.”

“ _He usually was back before dinner_ ,” exclaimed Wooyoung, in Korean, of course. To hear they conversed was actually fun. “ _Did you ask people to search for him in the forest?_ ”

“Yes, so far there is no sighting of him reported,” Mike answered glumly. “Local foresters whose daily routine is skimming through the woods claimed that they never once saw or ran into him all day yesterday.”

“ _But it is possible to miss each other in the forest. He could be just lost in there and might return anytime now_ ,” said Chansung, trying to stay positive although it was clear he was the most worried one. He did not touch his food—everyone knew Hwang Chansung would not pass any chance to eat.

“ _This is really bad_ ,” Wooyoung said, losing his sanity over his fears.

“Oh, this _is_ bad,” Mike said, turning white in an instant over whatever he just saw in his phone’s screen. “John Gayer is scheduled for inspection in tomorrow!”

Now the situation had turned griever.

The three now began their own searches. They could not wait any longer because they knew the moment they waited, John Gayer would have arrived, and everything would be a complete mess. They searched the woods where Nichkhun was last seen. Chansung and Wooyoung found a canteen that belonged to him—it did not cease their worries. Then, by the afternoon, they regrouped and sought deeper in the forest, to the extent that they ultimately reached the shore, but no real sign of Nichkhun. By the end of day two of Nichkhun’s disappearance, Mike and the photographer duo sat around campfire with their rescue team.

“I don’t understand,” Mike said, “If the canteen was there, why wouldn’t we find any trace of him? Shouldn’t someone in the woods leave traces on barks and, if he managed to reach the shore, traces of campfire? It was as if he was there just for a moment and then he was taken away to other dimension.”

“ _Don’t say thing like that_ ,” Wooyoung protested. “ _Don’t frighten us with something like that!_ ” He scooted closer to Chansung, who shared the fear. They didn’t originally fear any supernatural beliefs as such, but recently they had been tainted by Nichkhun’s obsession over a man who might or might not be a ghost and, to make it worsen, Wooyoung thought he saw a dark creature that wandered closely to the resort, absorbing darkness. It was just one night ago. He had asked Chansung if he could see it as well, and they must have gone mad that night because his boyfriend paled instantly at the sight, confirming the fear without a word. They cowered together in bed, spoke nothing of it, but acknowledged it anyway.

“We have a common belief here,” one of the team members said, approaching with grim face. The team was consisted of six native men, sons of the island with skin as dark as the bark of a tree, tanned thoroughly by oceanic sun through saltwater-infused layers of epithelia. He sat down next to Mike while his colleagues roamed about, still looking, but they somehow were reluctant to wander away.

“What belief?” Mike asked.

“It’s the Darkness Eater,” the man began. “It wanders through the sea and land as soon as the sun sets. It devours corruptions and bad matters it encounters. It looks like a man at the beginning, but it grows bigger and taller and darker as night goes. Its eyes shine green, like a pair of emerald—but once, we heard, that someone provokes it and its emerald eyes turned red, just as metal is red upon flame. Its steps are quiet and its arrival is harmless, but it won’t have any mercy for anyone who wants to ruin the islands and the sea.”

“ _You must be kidding_ ,” Wooyoung murmured. He looked as if he wasn’t affected by the story, but he was holding Chansung’s hands tightly. Chansung, however, was openly showing how afraid he was. After all, Wooyoung saw something akin to the description—he saw it with his own eyes and Chansung was there, too, to clarify. But for now, they wouldn’t say anything about it because they weren’t sure.

“ _Is—is this real_?” Chansung stammered.

“Don’t be stupid,” Mike said, lifting up the mood. “It is just a folktale.”

“You might believe that it is so,” the man countered Mike’s remark. His eyes shifted, giving out silent warnings as he stood up and left for his friends.

“Wait, is this creature related to the legend of emerald?” Mike questioned urgently.

“Why do you want to know?” the man asked back, looking over his shoulder. He seemed to grow more suspicious by now.

“Actually, the man who runs the resort is extremely curious about the emerald. He is an avid collector of emeralds. He asked me to gather some information about it. Do you know anything about the emerald?”

“If you after the emerald, I suggest you value your life and stop before you lose it,” the man firmly warned. He left right, leaving Mike with jaw agape.

“ _What is it about the emerald_?” Chansung curiously asked. They had heard a bit about it back when Gayer asked Nichkhun to fly here. Chansung didn’t believe personally that the man would try and find the _legendary_ emerald, after all, it was a legend.

“The real reason Gayer will arrive soon,” Mike spiritlessly answered. “I guess asking from natives is out of question.”

“ _I wonder if that creature has any relation to Khun-_ hyung _’s boyfriend_ ,” Wooyoung murmured. Chansung’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“ _Oh! What if Khun-_ hyung _met that hotshot and he stayed with him? That_ hyung _is always like that whenever he is head over heels, right?_ ”

“ _Ah! That would explain everything, Hwang Chansung!_ ” exclaimed Wooyoung. He was somehow relieved upon hearing the hypothesis. Then, he began to grumble, “ _Aish—but where could they be? No one saw him in the villages or the city_.”

“What you two are talking about?” Mike asked, clueless about the topic.

“ _It’s his recent obsession, a handsome stranger that appeared in pictures mysteriously. He can never shut up about it_ ,” replied Chansung. There was something that changed in Mike’s eyes as he heard this reply. The two should be wary noticing this, but they shrugged it off gullibly for now.

“Do you have any of those pictures?”

“ _Uh, Khun-_ hyung _left them in the resort. Why_?” Wooyoung asked, exchanging stares with Chansung.

“If we can’t track him down, we can opt to find the other man. Maybe they can help locate that guy,” Mike said excitedly, his eyes almost popped up. “We never know—maybe the reason we can’t find Nichkhun is that the man holds him captive. We must hurry!”

“Okay…”

Then, they rose to their feet and approached the native team. They decided to walk along the shore rather than to go across the woods. They arrived at the resort near midnight. Chansung and Wooyoung went to Nichkhun’s room and fetched the aforementioned pictures. They chose the one in which the man was shown best. Mike nodded as soon as he saw the photo, but unknown to the duo, Mike didn’t use it as he mentioned. He showed it to Gayer, for whatever reason, secretly.

*****

Nichkhun stood by the glass door, staring longingly at the sea. He saw a glimpse of a man in red swimming trunk at the far shore. They might have exchanged a stare at each other for a moment before the man hurried back into the woods. Nichkhun sighed again for the nth time. He wanted to go back and chase Taecyeon again, but he would break his promise. He still had Chansung and Wooyoung anyway, whom he had abandoned for two days. He left the room after another half an hour of sighing. He waddled into the dining hall, face sullen.

“ _Hyung_!” Chansung yelled upon seeing him enter. He leapt to his feet and bolted to Nichkhun, wrapping him in a bone-crushing hug. Wooyoung came a little bit later, also offering a soul-sucking hug. Any other day, Nichkhun would laugh and reprimand them for murder-attempt by hug while hugging them anyway, but today he just sighed.

“Khun- _hyung_ , we were worried sick. Are you okay?” Chansung asked, slowly moving away. He had bombarded Nichkhun with a bucketful of questions, so did Wooyoung, but all they got as answer was a deep, helpless sigh. They released the older man and guided him to the nearest table.

“Did something bad happen, _Hyung_?” Wooyoung asked worriedly as soon as they sat.

“No,” Nichkhun replied. His eyes shifted downward dejectedly. He propped a hand under his chin and he started to pout. Chansung slowly left the table, pouring a cup of coffee and taking it back for Nichkhun. The man, however, just put in sugar cubes continuously until the cup was packed with tiny, white cubes. He stirred the cup content mindlessly although it was clear that the liquid splashed out of the cup and a couple of cubes jumped out to the table top. Wooyoung elbowed Chansung.

“He looks fine, but why does he act like this?” Wooyoung whispered. Chansung leaned down and whispered back.

“I think we’ve seen him like this before.”

“You mean like when he broke up?”

“Do you think he broke up with someone?”

“Was he even in a relationship until yesterday?”

“But this is not like anything I have seen before. Could it be one-sided love?”

_BAM!_

Nichkhun slammed his hands on the table. He stood up and glared at his hands. The coffee cup toppled over, painted the shell-white table brown. He huffed angrily and stomped away. Chansung and Wooyoung stared him, wide-eyed. It took them a few moments until they overcame their shock and then ran after their senior. He went back to his room and lied in his bed, cocooned in the blanket, back facing the entrance door.

“ _Hyung_ , we are worried about you,” Chansung said, nearly pleading.

“I’m fine,” Nichkhun said petulantly, obviously in sulking mode—but why would he be sulking, the juniors were completely in the dark.

“Did you find your camera? Is this your camera, _Hyung_?” Wooyoung asked, noticing the familiar camera sit on top of Nichkhun’s dressing table, in front of the mirror. Nichkhun didn’t answer, so Wooyoung inched closer to the table and grabbed the camera carefully. He turned on the power and browsed through the data.

“You can print them,” Nichkhun said in the same sulking voice.

“Okay,” Chansung drawled, peeking over Wooyoung’s crown. “I’ll take care of the pictures now, _Hyung_. Have a good rest.” Giving up interrogative conversation (or any conversation at all) with Nichkhun, Chansung pulled Wooyoung with him, out of the room.

“He is really heartbroken, I think?” Wooyoung said once they were far enough from Nichkhun’s room.

“Come on, let’s see what he has in the camera first. He’ll come around eventually,” Chansung urged, naturally leading them toward his room.

He transferred all pictures from Nichkhun’s camera to his laptop and browsed through them to choose which to print. He split the number with Wooyoung since there were too many, as usual. When they finally finished choosing, they gathered the files and proceeded to print them. Three hours later, about thirty pictures were developed.

“I have never eaten this kind of fruit salad and grilled fish,” said Chansung, upset over the fact that there actually was menu that he missed. He separated the food pictures first, pouting because he was hungry again now.

“Why did you print these pictures?” Wooyoung asked, showing Chansung a couple of pictures showing a familiar handsome man in them. Chansung shrugged.

“I thought it might cheer him up. I knew he was with that man,” the Eatnator said.

“Who do you think took this picture?” Wooyoung questioned, holding up a photo of Nichkhun in white shirt on the bed without pants. He was trying to conceal his private area, but his long legs were enough enticing. Judging from his disheveled hair, blushing body—it wasn’t limited to his face—and messy state of shirt, it could only mean one thing.

“Did you really ask or you just wanted to hear me say it?” Chansung asked.

“Figured,” Wooyoung said, giggling. “Nichkhun- _hyung_ is really good-looking. How come he is this good-looking?” It was a constant wonder.

“I guess this could mean something,” Chansung stated, leaning toward Wooyoung with a particularly odd picture in his hand.

It was a photograph of natural waterfall. It wasn’t too tall and it had clear water flowing over it. There were plants on the brown cliffs, trees and bushes and ivies. At the base of the waterfall, a cave was present, but it wasn’t the peculiar aspect of this picture. The rock formation with a huge emerald sitting atop it was the strange thing that they could not decipher. It lied inside the cave, noticeably quite far from the edge, but it showed clearly from outside that it even was able to be captured in the photo.

“Isn’t this like… the…”—Wooyoung pursed his lips, hesitating—“…the _legendary_ emerald they always talked about?”

“Hey, guys, we were looking for you,” Mike said, suddenly emerging from the open doorway. He swaggered in and his eyes fell on the pictures.

“Ah, Nichkhun- _hyung_ has returned. We don’t know how, but he just showed up this morning. He is sleeping now. These are his pictures,” Chansung explained. Mike hummed and approached them cautiously. He touched the glossy papers, gently spreading them on the table so he could see all of them.

“Mr. Gayer, I think you would want to see these,” he said, calling out without tearing his eyes off the photos.

John Gayer appeared within a second at the door, wearing his suit as usual, emerald on his cufflinks and ring. He stood by Mike; eyes scanned the photos before them. His attention was drawn, however, by two different photos. One was the picture of Nichkhun’s mysterious man and the other was, of course, the picture of emerald behind a waterfall. A soulless smile bloomed on his face.

“The chase is on, again,” he murmured, snatching the photos and slipping them into his inside pocket. “Get the other pictures ready. I will see them later. Come, Mike.” He turned sharply and left without further words. Mike tailed him wordlessly.

“Good thing I printed copies of those,” said Chansung, pulling out the exact copy of the photos pilfered by the man with money. He grinned widely at Wooyoung, who grinned back. They hurried and gathered the prints.

*****

“ _Hyung_ , _Hyung_!” they called out cheerfully as they stormed into the room, bothering Nichkhun who was still a cocoon. They jumped on to bed and bounced until Nichkhun turned around and eyed them, annoyed.

“What do you want?” he asked, still pouting.

“We printed your photos,” Wooyoung replied, showing the stack of papers.

“We demand details of your disappearance!” Chansung said. “We were worried about you and suddenly you showed up with _this man_ ’s pictures in your supposedly missing camera. We must know what happened!”

Chansung plucked the specific photo and waved it in front of Nichkhun’s eyes. The photographer abruptly sat up and tried to snatch it out of the long-waist monkey’s hand. Alas, the junior was fast. Nichkhun’s face grew red.

“Give it to me!” he whined.

“Would you want that or this, _Hyung_?” Jang Wooyoung asked as he chose the erotic photograph of Nichkhun. The one in the picture gasped.

“Where did you get that?”

“What do you mean where? It’s in your camera!” Wooyoung said mirthfully, dodging Nichkhun’s advances to take the picture out of his hand.

“Okay, okay! I’ll tell you, okay, give them to me!” Nichkhun finally surrendered. With a matching grin, Chansung and Wooyoung then sat properly, transferring the photos to their rightful owner. Nichkhun grumbled through his pouty lips about the picture being too embarrassing as he swapped his own picture to the bottom. He put the mysterious man’s photo on the top.

“Okay, so, you met and stayed with him, didn’t you, _Hyung_?” Chansung pressed.

“Yeah, I did,” Nichkhun unwillingly spilled. “I really didn’t want to leave the place, but he made me.”

“Aw, you must like him so much, _Hyung_. You are sulking because you have to leave his place, aren’t you?” Wooyoung spiced up, mischief gears running flawlessly.

“It’s…”—Nichkhun wanted to deny it, but he couldn’t—“It’s inevitable! He… he is irresistible. It’s not my fault! He is too attractive!”

“If you said so, _you_ , then how attractive this man could be?” Wooyoung wondered.

“Told you he isn’t an ordinary man,” Chansung inputted. “So, did you have sex with him, _Hyung_? Are you finally giving up the pitcher base?” He sniggered.

“I…”—Nichkhun suddenly found that his blanket was very interesting to look at; he could not look away from it—“He… he didn’t have any special techniques or stuffs like that, but—but… err, he did it conventionally, really, but…”

“So, you _did_ abandon your pitcher base! Was it great?” Wooyoung interrupted impatiently. His eyes widened with anticipation, sparkling as he waited for all the juicy details. Chansung was no less enthusiastic. After all, it had been a while since Nichkhun dated anyone. Also, they were bored; they needed new materials to tease their beloved senior.

“Well…” Nichkhun didn’t answer, but it was too obvious. Chansung and Wooyoung sandwiched him, cooing and congratulating the man with sweet prince persona. Nichkhun chuckled shyly.

“I was upset because I suddenly was here when we were kissing,” Nichkhun confessed. “It was magical, but also very upsetting. I was all worked up just to find myself alone right here! I miss him already.”

“You are so cute, _Hyung_ ,” Wooyoung remarked, poking Nichkhun’s side. The elder man threw him a leer, tacitly reprimanding him through the glare that would be interpreted easily as, “Look who’s talking!”

“Umm, _Hyung_ , this is real, right?” Chansung suddenly asked, shifting the topic to the photo of emerald and waterfall.

“Oh, of course this is real,” Nichkhun answered, this time with less sulking involved in his voice. “He lives in this cave. This pool, however, is the entrance into his place. You have to find a scary spillway with twirling dark water to get there. It was really scary—I thought I died! I wonder if there was another way for me to get there without getting wet.”

“Wait… are you saying that you went through a scary water tornado just to get here?” Chansung asked in disbelief. Nichkhun nodded somewhat happily.

“Oh, I didn’t tell you yet the most important information I have gathered of him,”—his juniors were all ready to hear everything—“His name is Ok Taecyeon and he is 300-something years old. A shapeshifting demigod! I don’t know anymore. I just trust whatever he told me for now. Whether or not he is actually sane, I cannot care for now. He is just too cool, but he always shows up unexpectedly like a ghost! A giant, handsome ghost! Ah…” Nichkhun swayed as he ended the dramatic monologue, turning rubber due to his yearning. Wooyoung frowned, turned to Chansung who did exactly the same as he did. They watched as their beloved senior swooned unconsciously at his own words.

“Is this… not some sort of fairy tale you told us, _Hyung_? How are we supposed to believe it?” Chansung shook his head.

“Of course not!” Nichkhun cried, suddenly sitting straight again. “I couldn’t believe it myself at first. He simply told me that he was King, the seal I rescued when I was eight years old. How could I believe him? But it _is_ true—at least, I believe that it is.”

Chansung and Wooyoung looked at each other again as Nichkhun sighed. They currently believed that their senior was undergoing some sort of aftershock that he could not tell what was real or not. But, certainly, there was another man who could not seem to be able to differentiate reality and illusion, let alone forgetting a 300-year-old grudge. This man would now begin his scheme, one that he aspired to lead his family back to its respectful place among old gentries and nobles.

*****

On his back, he felt eyes watch over. Even in his sleep, he could decipher it as reality. He rolled to his back, the natural position he usually found himself in the morning. He opened his eyes ever so slightly, peeking at the possible source of his wariness. It was still afternoon, sun had not yet set, so he could almost see clearly that there was a tall man standing in front of his bed. Only for a moment, unfortunately, the man remained there. Whoever it was, he disappeared the moment he blinked and reopened his eyes to peek. He sat up, heart beating fast. He knew… he knew that the man wouldn’t leave him like this!

“I heard that you have a boyfriend.”

Nichkhun turned around, finding Gayer by his glass door. Bewildered by his sudden appearance, the Thai man jumped out of bed and walked away from where Gayer stood. He had never felt or thought of this before, but right now, something was off whenever he laid his eyes on John Gayer. Something inside him disliked the very presence of that man.

“Why do you move away in fear, Nichkhun? Am I not your friend?” Gayer asked coolly. He stepped slightly aside and twisted his torso, gazing at Nichkhun with his unusually cold eyes—colder than Nichkhun had ever seen on him before. It seemed that his stare hadn’t changed, even the slightest, but right now Nichkhun had just noticed how cold it actually was. If anything, it was not Gayer’s gaze that changed, but Nichkhun!

“Why are you in my room, John?” Nichkhun asked, trying to keep his composure.

“I was tired of idle waiting. Your juniors and Mike told me that you have been sleeping throughout the day because of heartbreak. I only have time until dusk to begin my plan, so here I am to confirm it first.”

“What plan?” Nichkhun demanded. He felt fear spread rapidly. This was not a plan he wanted to hear, he thought.

“This man,” Gayer ignored his question and instead pulled out a photo, “is the one you claim as your boyfriend, isn’t he?” Nichkhun felt his cheeks burn, but hotter was his heart. _We have not been officially boyfriends yet!_

“We—we are not boyfriends!” he spilled.

“Then, you confirmed that you know this man, even have intimate relationship—judging from your face,” Gayer stated, smirking slightly. Gayer pocketed the photo and clapped loudly. Four men flooded through the door at the sign. They closed in on Nichkhun. Gayer pointed at Nichkhun and commanded, “Take him. Prepare for the plan.”

“What are you doing? Why are you doing this? Whatever this is, stop!”

“You,” Gayer started, “you believe that he loved you, don’t you?”

Nichkhun stopped and glared at him. _Hard_. He could almost taste what would come next from that poisonous mouth. Noticing Nichkhun’s anger boil inside, Gayer let his venomous speech freely delivered, clearly articulated.

“He told you things that sound impossible, such as he is an immortal creature and a victim of unjust treatment when he was once a human, didn’t he?”—Gayer knew he had hit a nerve when Nichkhun’s body began to shake, so he pushed it farther, gritting his teeth as spirit of vengeance unleashed—“Did he tell you anything about stealing my ancestor’s fiancée? He manipulated his way up to obtain a title of governor at age 28. He seduced a lady who was about to be married in two weeks, then stole the groom’s position on board. Not enough all those, his family was given the man’s family manor. Then, even after his presumed death, he stopped the man’s grandson from regaining the former glory by obtaining the legendary gemstone for the Queen. He even almost impregnated the sole female survivor of the tribal war. He did it in front of her son! The son managed to get his mother to the shore, away from him just in time to be discovered by the company! They went to get the emerald, but he killed them all!”

“No! You are lying! He is not a killer! He is not immoral!” Khun denied, shaking his head furiously. He wouldn’t believe this—not at all.

Gayer snapped, voice high pitched; offended by Nichkhun’s exclamation. “Oh, what do you know of him? Did you know him for years? I know him all my life and trust me, he is! He is no less than a monster!” Gayer shouted, eyes glaring red and teeth bared. Raw emotions flowed through his face and voice, unlike his usually composed self.

“He is not a monster!” Nichkhun yelled desperately. He knew that this could not be true. He might have only known the man for such short of time, but all Gayer spouted didn’t make any sense to him. The Taecyeon he knew would never kill anyone. No, even though he was always scary during the night. He would not steal someone’s lover. He would not do improper things in front of innocent boy. He would not want to force his way to the top with cheap trick as Gayer said. No, Nichkhun knew in his heart that it wasn’t true. He had faith.

“Fool! You know nothing about him, Horvejkul! You know _nothing_! This John Gayer has been living for three decades to finish the despair every member of my family feels through the past three centuries. My father nearly did it, but _you_ …”—Gayer pointed a finger angrily at Nichkhun, eyes aflame—“… _you_ saved him! My father would have captured and killed him when he was most vulnerable, but you appeared and saved him.”

Nichkhun blinked rapidly, trying to digest the new information he received. “Your father was the one who hunted down the seal?”

“No thanks to you,” Gayer said acerbically.

“I… you… you are the monster!” Nichkhun spat angrily. The wealthy man scoffed.

“What if I am?”

“You…” Nichkhun pointed a finger at him, accusing firmly, “You just want the emerald, don’t you?”

“Oh, you know about it?” Gayer asked arrogantly, paying no real heed. “I shouldn’t be surprised since you brought the picture of the emerald yourself to my hands. At least you are useful for my plan. I will have the emerald and I will eliminate your noxious boyfriend.”

Nichkhun’s eyes bored hotly into Gayer’s as he found no word matching how exasperated he was now. Gayer did not take this expression of Nichkhun’s into account. He waved his hand, gesturing to the men, saying:

“Take him away.”

Nichkhun resisted as the men tried to subdue him, but he was quickly cuffed behind his back and muffled. He was brought forcefully away from his room and on the way his eyes were blindfolded. Those men had him on his knees, strung him by the limbs, hardly able to feel his muscles. He heard sounds of weapons cocked nearby. He was not alone in the place where he was taken to.

“Just try and escape, we will split your head open,” a man threatened. Whatever was happening, Nichkhun could only obey what they said.

*****

“Here, I am sure, Mr. Gayer,” said Mike, leading the group of men in three jeeps to the spot where he usually found Nichkhun’s jeep left astray. He gestured the driver to stop. The other two pulled over as soon as they saw Mike jump off the vehicle. The first car’s passengers were all discharged, standing before the woods in no time.

“We made it right just before dark. Once it is dark, we won’t be able to defeat him,” Gayer said, sweeping his eyes around the area.

The remaining men dismounted from the other jeeps and gathered behind Gayer and Mike wordlessly. All of them bore weapons while several of them had pickaxe and mining equipment with them. Chansung and Wooyoung were somehow involved in this without knowing how to pull back. They just agreed to let him take Nichkhun away earlier because Mike, representing Gayer, claimed that Taecyeon was a dangerous man—that Taecyeon would harm Nichkhun if their relationship were to let as it was; that he was responsible for Gayer’s ancestor’s misfortunes and he would do that again to Nichkhun if they let him be. The duo didn’t know what to expect when they followed him here. They refused to bring firearms bigger than a revolver, but seriously, they didn’t have any intention of using it.

Gayer stepped closer to the woods, but he did not enter. He was waiting for a particular arrival. Not any minute passed since they arrived, a strangely tall and bulky man appeared before them, wearing only red swimming trunks. He might pose himself carefully and calmly as he appeared, but he could hardly conceal the aggravation in his sharp eyes upon finding the party before him. Chansung and Wooyoung recognized him at once, having their eyes familiarized with the man over the last half a year via pictures Nichkhun showed them relentlessly. They noticed, before his appearance, there was a whiff of enticing scent. It was somehow similar to how Nichkhun smelt when they hugged him earlier today. They hadn’t put any thoughts on it before, but now it was incredibly curious.

Therefore, their focus then was distracted by the fact that it wasn’t only these two who felt incredibly familiar with the man.

“How scary,” Gayer began, poised solely to provoke the newcomer. “You didn’t change at all after three centuries passed.”

“You are…” the strange man said, frowning, “You are a Gayer.”

Gayer chuckled, and then he scoffed. “As much as I hate you, I must admit that you are admirable. You know your enemy well, don’t you, Ok Taecyeon? I have nothing to hide, then. Tonight, I will have you pay for every single trouble you caused my ancestor.”

“It pains me to see that your family line holds grudge adamantly,” Taecyeon said calmly. His eyes were on guard, fully anticipating. “What is it that you want from me, Gayer? Is it the emerald again, one that you failed to give to the Queen?”

“That is my prize, Ok Taecyeon, but first, I want you dead,” Gayer said without hesitation. “You are the guardian of my prize. Killing you is the only way I can obtain it. Moreover, taking your life is essential for my satisfaction as you are now _an immortal_.”

“ _Ki—kill_?” Wooyoung stammered weakly to Chansung. They stood closer to each other, anticipating unwillingly. They pressed their backs against nearest jeep’s door, ready to flee if anything was too much to be handled.

“I see that you have found I cannot die. How do you kill someone who cannot die?” Taecyeon asked, raising his eyebrows skeptically. Gayer laughed mirthfully.

“You are just like any other gods,” the manic man said. “You can be kept dead as long as your parts are not attached back once detached. Do you think I am a fool to confront my enemy without fair knowledge of them? You must be kidding!”

“Good work, nincompoop, any Victorian journalists would be able to figure out as much, Gayer, but why would I give up to you? Do you expect me to bow and let you loop my head off my shoulders without a fight?” Taecyeon challenged, preparing himself to flee as he unfolded his arms.

“The answer is, however, simple. You will bow and let me loop your head off your shoulders without a fight because if you don’t, I’ll kill him,” replied Gayer, efficiently snapping his fingers.

Mike stepped forward with a tablet PC, a video was playing on the screen. It showed nothing but a man tied by his legs and hands to wall behind him, eyes blindfolded and mouth choked, in a vacant room, with three big men bringing firearms surrounding the man. Taecyeon’s eyes wavered, obviously shaken.

“You know him, don’t you?”

“I don’t,” Taecyeon denied, firmly and immaculately enough to pass as truthful reply. However, to his bad luck, Gayer had in his hands a secret that Taecyeon hadn’t known that it was no longer a secret. Mike put the tablet PC close to Gayer’s mouth.

“Shoot his leg,” he commanded.

A man appeared at the edge of screen as a gruff answer was heard. He cocked his rifle and mercilessly aimed and shot the poor, bound man’s left leg. The man whimpered and sobbed. The voice could not be conveyed clearly as the man was also muffled. However, the spreading scarlet pool on the floor was enough to crush Taecyeon’s supposedly steadfast pride as guardian.

“Still not up for it?” Gayer pressed. “Shoot his other leg—”

“Wait!” Taecyeon cut. His eyes spoke volumes—he was furious and seemingly unwilling to offer mercy if given a chance to punish them. This gave Gayer immense satisfaction that he only showed through glimmering dark lust in his eyes.

“Hold up,” Gayer commanded. The armed man in the video instantly halted and let down his rifle, waiting at ease. “If you don’t surrender, I will have them torture him first then ultimately kill him.”

“Fine. Have it your way,” said Taecyeon resolutely, clenching his jaw. “You can kill me and try to take the emerald, but set him free. He doesn’t have anything to do with this.” Gayer grinned, completely satisfied with the answer.

“I thought you don’t like _befriending_ mortals because it gets in the way, but I guess even you can’t resist your beast desire,” mocked the emerald enthusiast.

“If I must choose, I will certainly vote you as the beast, Gayer,” Taecyeon said.

“Don’t you dare to even think about resisting,” Gayer said, ignoring the remark, tilting his head to his henchmen. They came around Taecyeon and held him down. “I will not trouble myself with dividing you into too many pieces, so I will just separate your head and body. Generous, am I not?” Gayer was handed a sharp sword by one of his henchmen. He drew it out of the wooden scabbard. Taecyeon stared at him darkly, silently cursing the smug man despite his unfazed demeanor. Gayer laughed at his dark expression.

“Now, before I kill you,” Gayer said once he returned to usual self, “tell me how to get to this place first.” Mike held up the picture of waterfall with huge emerald behind the curtain of water. Taecyeon’s stare hardened.

“Take a drop of my blood on you and you will find the entrance,” said Taecyeon begrudgingly.

“Well, that’s perfect, then,” Gayer responded lightly.

He raised the sword high and swung it toward Taecyeon’s neck. Cleanly, he cut through the flesh and bones. Fresh blood spurted out of the severed neck and the head rolled on the ground, covered by dirt as soon as it touched the dusty road. Wooyoung let out a silent scream and Chansung’s eyes were so wide that the eyeballs might pop out of the sockets.

“Bottle up the blood and put some on your clothes,” commanded Gayer, emotionlessly wiping the blood splats on his cheek.

One of his henchmen took the head and put it in a chest, other two were bagging the body while the remaining others were busy putting on a drop of Taecyeon’s blood on their clothes. Wooyoung was chalk pale in Chansung’s arms. They didn’t dare to cast even a quick leer at the scene. It was mentally scarring.

“Mr. Gayer,” Chansung dared himself to speak up.

“What is it?”

“Ca—can we go back to the resort instead? We… we are actually afraid of blood. We might slow down the team if we join you,” said Chansung, shivering. Gayer threw them a dark look, but his frown soon disappeared. He even smiled a bit.

“How thoughtful, weaklings who know their place,” he said admiringly, “Fine by me. Tony, be sure to bring them with you and drop them by the resort once you are finished with the pieces.”

The man, who sat behind the wheel in the jeep that was ready to depart, nodded. Wooyoung and Chansung climbed to the backseat while one of the remaining henchmen occupied the seat by the driver. It might be a stupid decision, but Gayer had no capacity to think straight right now and everyone just followed his command. They risked unexpected mutiny Chansung and Wooyoung could commit, but it seemed to them that they wouldn’t have any worry once the emerald in their hands.

They departed shortly, heading north first. Wooyoung was trying hard not to puke as they watched the two henchmen threw the bagged body into prepped hole. Blood was still flowing out of the body somehow, leaving prominent coppery stench that was curiously mixed with the lingering fragrant scent. It didn’t matter how pleasant the scent was, the smell of fresh blood and the unsightly image of severed body was enough to cause the innocent ones’ dizzy.

“ _I can’t believe this is really happening_ ,” Wooyoung whispered, voice cracked. “ _I want to faint, Chansung_ -ah.”

“ _Me, too. Don’t puke on me, though. What about Khun-_ hyung _? How could we tell him this? This… this wouldn’t happen if I never mentioned about his boyfriend, right_?” Chansung asked, too many things were inside his head now. Wooyoung shook his head, disagreeing, but he had no energy left to comfort the other. So, they held on to each other tightly, trying to exchange wordless comfort as they, again, watched the henchmen bury the chest with Taecyeon’s head in it, but at different place on the opposite side of the island.

“Wa—wait,” Chansung called after the henchmen before they left again after dropping Chansung and Wooyoung at the resort. The henchmen turned to him.

“What?”

“Will—will Nichkhun be freed?”

“There is no command to free him from Mr. Gayer,” the henchman replied flatly, uncaringly. “Mr. Gayer planned to kill him anyway.”

“Huh?”

Chansung didn’t get to ask any further since the jeep had hurriedly left; assuming that the pair was too weak even though was completely on their side. They disregarded the fact that these two were good friends with the person they just admitted that they wanted to kill.

“ _Did he just say that they will kill Khun-_ hyung?” Wooyoung asked, hands shaking badly. Chansung grabbed his hair frustratingly, lips quivering.

“ _What—what should we do, Wooyoung-_ ah?” Chansung stammered hopelessly. They wallowed in their amorphous state of mind. Minutes passed, suddenly Wooyoung grabbed Chansung’s sleeves, tightly clinging to them.

“ _Let’s find him!_ ”

*****

Five minutes later, the duo went looking for where Nichkhun was held. It wasn’t hard since the place itself was a part of the resort. It was the storage room, farthest from all guest rooms. They took time to snatch a bottle of water and first aid kit. They posed as if they just wanted to see him when asked by the three henchmen posted there. The room was vacant except for a video camera and the bounded Nichkhun. Chansung and Wooyoung tiptoed to the back of the camera. Wooyoung pushed the power button, turning it off.

“ _Hyung_! Are—are you all right?” Chansung asked, leaping forward and kneeling in front of the bound man.

“Cha—Chansung!” Nichkhun whispered with raspy and shaky voice, moving his head around to detect the source of the voice. Chansung immediately released the blindfold, freeing Nichkhun’s vision. The man blinked rapidly, adjusting his eyes to well-lighted room.

“We are very sorry,” Wooyoung confessed as he released Nichkhun from the cuffs and ropes. They hugged him first, mostly to offer themselves a piece of comfort, and then proceeded to clean his wound. “We told Mike about your boyfriend—…”

“I told Mike about it,” Chansung snatched impatiently.

“No, _we_ told him,” Wooyoung hissed, glaring at Chansung momentarly. “We told him then he asked for his picture. We gave it to him because we thought he would use it to find you. He instead showed it to Mr. Gayer and then we…”—Chansung fixated his eyes on Wooyoung, worriedly—“we told him everything because he said that your boyfriend was a dangerous murderer. We… we never thought that…”

“What are you saying, Jang Wooyoung?” asked Nichkhun anxiously, caressing his wrist and winching at the awfully painful bandaging process to bind his fresh wound—the bullet was still in there, no one among them was capable of taking it out. “Mike? He is in this, you meant?”

He glared, not at his juniors but at the imaginary Mike in his eyes. Nichkhun would never imagine that the supposedly Thai friend he trusted deeply would ever betray him like this. To be fair, he never imagined that John Gayer would do this to him and Taecyeon. He just realized that he actually knew nothing about the two. His friendliness had deceived him for he was naïve.

However, this made the two uneasy. Wooyoung and Chansung did not look at him, rueful and terrifyingly pale. Nichkhun had known them long enough to understand their tempers, but this wasn’t something he had seen on them before. It was pretty close to their faces when watching slasher movies, but then it didn’t tell him anything about what they actually apologized about.

“Mr. Gayer…” Chansung hesitated, exchanging worried look with Wooyoung. It just made him more vexed. Nichkhun had bad feeling about this. Chansung took a deep sigh and gathered his courage to finish his sentence, “He killed your boyfriend, _Hyung_.”

Nichkhun’s heart stopped for a second.

“They buried his—his head and body separately at opposite shores and took his blood to enter the place with emerald,” explained Chansung while Wooyoung was holding back the urge to vomit again. He hadn’t recovered.

“Because he is immortal,” Nichkhun said, normalizing his breath after the shock. He took a deep breath and chugged a big amount of water from the bottle his juniors brought. Carefully, he stood up. The duo quickly followed him, steadying him by the arms.

“Let us accompany you, _Hyung_! You can’t do this alone,” Chansung offered.

“No, wait,” Nichkhun said, trying to think. “Just… just help me get out from here and drive me to the burial spots. You two must remain your façade as their allies.”

“No way, _Hyung_!” Wooyoung vehemently rejected.

“Trust me, once Taecyeon is resurrected, everything will be all right,” Nichkhun said, desperately persuading the juniors to listen to him. “Just… just help me to get to him.”

Hwang Chansung and Jang Wooyoung could never force their opinions on Nichkhun once he concluded his decision. So, they went and knocked the three henchmen outside out of consciousness first. Then, they stole a car instead of a jeep and a couple of shovels. Chansung drove the car toward the burial site of Taecyeon’s head first.

Suddenly, it rained hard when they were just a hundred meters away from the spot. Nichkhun was determined to dig it out himself, but he could hardly walk properly without help, so Chansung and Wooyoung lent him a hand. It didn’t take long, miraculously, not even half an hour. The chest was found at the bottom of the pit. Chansung slid down the muddy path, volunteering to take out the chest. Nichkhun was the one to open it. His originally pale complexion turned even more pallid. His round, cute eyes welled with fresh tears that mixed perfectly with raindrops. His supposedly strong and well-muscled body lost its remaining strength as it fell forward, forcing the chest’s lid to shut tightly again. He covered his mouth, shaking badly.

After a few minutes, Nichkhun compelled himself to move on. He still had to find the body. Dragging his wounded left leg, he went back inside the car. Chansung started the engine immediately. He wanted to rush, but Wooyoung wouldn’t let him, fearing that it wouldn’t be safe to speed up in such rainfall, not to mention they were driving on unpaved roads. The destination was at the northern side of the island. They didn’t waste any minute and began to shovel away the ground where the body was buried. The yellow body bag was easily seen. This time, Nichkhun brought the chest with him as he slid down the muddy pit.

His breathing was heavy. His ears were full with sounds from inside and outside. Hands shaking and heart aching, he braved himself to unzip the bag. He could no longer hold back upon seeing the body he spent hours and hours watching headless, gushing blood. He vomited and nearly passed out. He heard Chansung and Wooyoung call out to him and it was their genuine worried call that gave him strength to sit up and open the chest again. He closed his eyes tightly, shivering. He wrapped his fingers around the skull, pressing on the big mouse ears Taecyeon was easily identified by. There was something wrong Nichkhun felt. There was something slippery covering them. Nichkhun opened his eyes, locating the severed neck. He accidentally laid his eyes on the head in his hands again. Taecyeon’s handsome face was covered by blood.

“ _I can’t_ ,” he inwardly said.

A sob escaped from his lips, tears unstoppably leaked and joined the stream of raindrops. He put the head gently above the neck. His body and limbs were shaking horrendously, but he managed to properly arrange the head. Once he did, he collapsed, turning his back on the body. He hunched, head hanging low. Crying nearly inaudibly, he covered his mouth, making small retching noises even though nothing came out anymore. He still felt dreadfully sick and cold. He did not hear his juniors shriek in fear and fall on their bottoms. He, too, did not hear that the bag had been ripped open.

“Are you okay, Khun?”

The voice sliced through Nichkhun’s auditory wall of noises. He returned from the breakdown just to see whether he was deluded or not. However, luckily for him, it was real. Taecyeon hovered near him, ready to welcome him in his arm again. His handsome face was now in motion again, cleansed by rain. Nichkhun’s tears flowed harder, but his voice was absent. He threw himself at the man, pouring out his terrible feelings until he only had the sense of relief and comfort.

Taecyeon easily brought Nichkhun in his arms and leapt out of the pit. He landed smoothly in front of Chansung and Wooyoung who hadn’t recovered from their shock (they witnessed the resurrection of Taecyeon). The demigod put Nichkhun on the backseat after Chansung unlocked the doors. The poor man was now unconscious after undergoing so much mental breakdown. Taecyeon’s big body didn’t let Chansung and Wooyoung see clearly what he was doing while he evidently tended Nichkhun’s wound. They just saw the bandage removed and the bullet thrown out of the car. Taecyeon also temporarily left them to the woods. He returned with green paste in his hand that he instantly applied on Nichkhun’s open wound. Chansung and Wooyoung thought they must be dreaming when they witnessed it themselves: their senior’s wound was healed rapidly in the matter of seconds.

“Would you mind bringing us back to whence you come from?” Taecyeon talked, for the first time, to Chansung, who was behind the wheel.

“O—of course not!” Chansung stammered, visibly shaken to the bones, but he proved himself as a dependable man by driving them all back to the resort safely.

*****

He woke up amidst the journey back to the resort. Luckily for them, people didn’t like wandering around at night, especially when it rained so that no one witnessed their return. Nichkhun bid his juniors good night and told them to rest as much as they needed, but not before asking for Chansung’s newly bought souvenir clothes. As Nichkhun’s room was situated more remotely than the two, it was a hassle for Nichkhun to bring Taecyeon back with him. Taecyeon might have shown off his power just a moment ago, but he actually lost ninety five percent of his strength. Nichkhun shoved themselves into bathtub and cleaned their bodies from everything—blood, mud, rain. This was odd since they never had been this dirty before when they were together. The waterfall’s plunge pool was enough to wash away whatever tainted their bodies. Taecyeon did not resist and dutifully obeyed Nichkhun’s directions. Nichkhun changed into his sleeping attire first before he handed Taecyeon change clothes he snatched from Chansung.

“It is good that Chansungie always buys clothes one size larger than his from souvenir shops otherwise we won’t have anything that fits your ridiculously huge body,” Nichkhun commented, trying to act normal despite deep inside he hadn’t completely recovered.

Taecyeon actually abandoned the palm-patterned shirt and wore only the tank-top and sweatpants. The pants were still a bit too small for safety that it was embarrassing for anyone watching him. Nichkhun did not bother lending him underwear. There wouldn’t any that fitted. His size was at least two sizes smaller and Chansung’s was certainly at least one size smaller. It was not safe to let him wear something too small. After cleaning up, somehow, both of them fell asleep and woke up a few hours later, rejuvenated slightly. This time, Nichkhun took it upon himself to take care of Taecyeon.

“I lost all my blood, what do you expect? But I will always take care of you first,” Taecyeon had said to defend himself when Nichkhun expressed his concern through a nagging question: “Why did you bring me back to the surface like that when you actually can hardly keep your head straight? You are too reckless even when you are weak.”

“You must eat,” Nichkhun stated firmly.

“I lost my chance to eat when they killed me at dusk,” Taecyeon said, still trying to humor the other man. Nichkhun scrunched his face, not amused. He certainly would make Taecyeon eat this time.

“Are—are you not going to stop them?” Nichkhun asked worriedly. They were now relaxing on the bed as he fed Taecyeon fruits from the room service basket.

“No,” Taecyeon simply answered.

“Why?”

“Mother Island is not helpless,” Taecyeon explained, pushing a lock of hair off Nichkhun’s face in between accepting fruit cuts from him. “That emerald was initially created to let me return to whence I came from, but I had no courage to go back. I held back so many years that once I did touch it, there no longer was any other place for me to go back. The stone, Khun, is then made Mother Island’s adornment. Its role is never as important as it looks, but Mother Island cherishes it. She enchanted it. You might have heard Gayer mentioned about his ancestor tried to take the stone before and everyone died, right?”

Nichkhun dropped his eyes, shoulders slumped. He said honestly, “Yes, he told me that you murdered them.”

“I didn’t, Khun. I wouldn’t,” Taecyeon said, taking Nichkhun’s hand in his. “I didn’t even know what happened to them, honestly. Mother Island’s enchantment upon the stone allows her to transport whoever tries to harvest the rock to her ring of fire and judge them. Should they fail, they will ultimately be punished.”

“Oh, so… they were killed by Mother Island?” Nichkhun concluded. The man sighed.

“You might say so, even though I am not entirely sure whether or not they die in the punishment sentenced for them.”

“I see. Uh… Hmmm…”—Nichkhun hesitated, face reddening—“Also… he told me that you stole someone’s fiancée. That you had sex with a mother in front of her son.”

“Do you believe him?”

“Why must I? I don’t want to believe him,” replied the Thai man, slightly affronted.

Taecyeon smiled softly and kissed Nichkhun’s top of head. “Thank you. I never wanted to steal his fiancée. I never intended to. Here, look into my memories.” He turned Nichkhun’s face toward his by the chin, connecting their foreheads. Rolls of remembrance were played inside Nichkhun’s head.

*****

It was in autumn 1690 that John Gayer planned his wedding with the woman he had been betrothed since birth. The happiness was overflowing, but it lasted as seasons passed and it suddenly was winter 1691. His life changed drastically. Firstly, he was informed by his superior that his position in the EIC was replaced by a more competent man. Secondly, he was told that his fiancée and her parents agreed to call off the wedding as well as the engagement. Thirdly, his family was transferred to other manor as the manor he had been living in with his family was going to be other family’s house from then. Fourthly, he found out that his former fiancée fell in love with a certain man and her family supported her new romantic relationship with the man, hence the call off. Fifthly, he knew that the reason of the four misfortunes he received above was just one man: Ok Taecyeon.

He gathered his loyal men and devised a scheme to throw off the man who ruined his life. On Taecyeon’s first voyage as captain, he was betrayed by half of the crew, whose loyalty remained with Gayer. They tied his limbs as he slept soundly in a tranquil night and tossed him into the ocean, not knowing that isles were present nearby. He, then, retained his position until he was discharged and substituted. Despite the victorious outcome, he was condemned guilty for Ok Taecyeon’s mysterious disappearance. The woman he wished to win after the presumed death of his rival rejected his public proposal in a ball he held for her. She provided statement against him in the trial as well, only to adjoin other statements that robbed him off chance to aver his innocence. Stripped off his rank, he was given a chance to live in India as a noble again. However, he never married and he died in India. A son, despite his nonexistence marriage, rose and claimed his surname just before he reached the end of his life. The son, whom he never raised but recognized in a heartbeat, carried his raging willpower of avenge. This was the beginning of the undying hatred flowing inside the veins of Gayers.

On the other side, the wrongfully stowed Taecyeon was brought by the ocean to Mother Island. He died, but revived, molded anew as a being beyond mankind. Unfortunately for him, as he yearned for socialization, he found that the island he stepped into was full of hostile humans who feasted upon their kin. He escaped their chase and talked to Mother Island about his findings. He, then, tasked by Mother Island to put this madness to its end. By the night, he turned into a fearsome giant and consumed all that corrupted the beauty of Mother Island’s beloved creations. What remained, as dawn rose, was a mother with her son.

Taecyeon took pity on them and brought them to his realm, where he learnt to live as a demigod. He built chambers and halls inside the carving behind the waterfall. He made beds, desks, and wardrobe for his remaining belongings. The mother and son were given a chamber. They were fed by Taecyeon every day and he was very kind to them. The mother was a young woman. Inevitably, she began to fall for Taecyeon and wished to be with him. Taecyeon did not think of having a companion, as he was still bitter about engagement that now prevented him from coming home to his family. The son, however, was consumed by hatred since he knew Taecyeon was the one sweeping all other tribe members.

He hid, one night, behind the gemstone rock and witnessed his transformation while his mother was asleep. He was frightened, but he was also determined to kill him, avenging his village members. As he knew Taecyeon was kind, he approached Taecyeon the next day, asking a way to leave the realm and to wander in human world. Taecyeon told him unsuspectingly and gave him a little jar of his blood. The son found as soon as he arrived in human world that the English army anchored at the shore, looking ravenously. He returned to fetch his mother, lying to her that he only wished to walk with her. Once they reached the shore, the son talked with all his might to the soldiers about an emerald bigger than a man’s head. He told them how to get there and shared the blood in the jar evenly.

They marched into the forest and found the entrance by the edge of the woods. They hurried toward the waterfall once they saw that the child’s words were true. They reached the cave without trouble and they began to harvest the rock and explored the chambers. It was midday and Taecyeon was out, so he did not know what was happening. They, however, found out who was living in there and it was because among them was the son of John Gayer, who suffered humiliation as his father was not only removed from his position and rank, but also punished for murder of Ok Taecyeon. They did not find any other jewel or treasure inside, so they focused on the emerald. Unfortunately for them, every strike they gave to the rock earned one disappearance of the man striking it. So it continued until the very last person. It was revealed that Mother Island enchanted the stone to bring whoever wished to remove the stone and own it to her ring of fire.

This ring of fire was a mere pit of lava, located near her tip of toe. On the middle of it, there was a plateau and all transported from the cave would stand on it, experiencing heat but not directly yet. She would rise from her sleep and patiently question them one by one. If the person answered truthfully and begged honestly for forgiveness, she would let them go and return them to the island. However, the headstrong ones, geared with pride and greed; the ones who refused to surrender would be cast down the liquid rock. In the end, the army sailed away the next morning, lighter than ever. The Gayer was reported missing even though he was made their commander. He promised a jewel befit the majestic spirit of the King and Queen before they departed to obtain the emerald, and yet he failed. This only further worsened his family’s reputation. The Gayer’s obsession for emeralds was begun from here.

And so, Taecyeon had been living hundreds of years alone. He tried to make friends, but he was left hurting as he witnessed the friends he made passed away before his eyes. What he had left was the company of his old nemesis: The family of Gayer. They never stopped hating him for what he achieved for himself, although he had died in their hands and was removed from the face of reality. As they knew that he somehow lived and breathed until today, they would not let it go even as years passed, unlike normal humans who had compassion. The Gayers studied him closely and relentlessly hunted him down whenever he let his guard down. It might seem trivial for majority of people, but this family hoped to regain their previous rank, which was forcefully taken away from them centuries ago, once they presented the magnanimous emerald to the sovereignty. Therefore, they knew not that Mother Island was fond of her enchanted emerald and she hated whatever flawed it. Eventually, it was fated that the Gayers would never have either Taecyeon’s life or the legendary emerald.

*****

“You are just a victim, aren’t you?” Nichkhun asked in disbelief.

“From my perspective, I am, but from theirs, they are the victims,” Taecyeon replied wisely, although empathy should not be for ones who hurt continuously. Nichkhun snuggled into the bigger man, putting aside the fruits carelessly on the bedside table. He groaned and purred at the same time, which was quite an enjoyable auditory entertainment to have. Taecyeon let him delve further into his embrace.

“It’s not fair,” Nichkhun said. “I touched the emerald and tossed here, right? If no one could stay there once they touched it, how would one expect to remove it? It’s impossible, isn’t it? But how the teleportation works? It’s like a _portkey_ , isn’t it? But if it is, they should be transported back here, right?”

“The way it works, Khun,” the man patiently enunciated, “that whoever touches it, they will be returned to where they are supposed to be. Determined by their heart. You might have heard of such cliché premise about home is where your heart belongs, it’s exactly as that cliché piece.”

“Then,” Nichkhun came into realization, “You are the only one who could remove the emerald, right? Your home is there!”

Taecyeon laughed. “It might be so.”

“Then, why was I brought here?” Nichkhun continued his rampage of questions. “My home is far away, you know. It’s either California or Bangkok where I call home, where my family is. Or Seoul, I work there these days.”

Taecyeon smiled and tapped his forefinger tip on Nichkhun’s adorable, handsome nose—an action that triggered the victim to commence a shark-like biting attack, sadly without successful outcome. Nichkhun puffed his cheeks and bit Taecyeon’s shoulder instead.

“But you are not supposed to be there, are you, at the moment?” said the tanned man, stupidly acting hurt. Nichkhun dodged the man’s snapping big teeth and laughed innocently.

“Well, that’s true…” he said. He was now standing away from the bed, a pillow in his hands. Taecyeon roused from the bed, agile enough to avoid from being hit on the face with the pillow that Nichkhun threw at him.

“It is such an intricate enchantment,” Taecyeon stated. It was amazing that their conversation continued normally although they were now practically playing tag. Well, some sort of tag game.

“It is,” Nichkhun answered, speedily running toward glass door—which wasn’t not the wisest choice, but his objective was solely to tease the man, so it wasn’t a failure at all when Taecyeon effortlessly used his arm to hook Nichkhun by the tummy, taking the handsome photographer to his lap.

Giggling joyfully while avoiding Taecyeon’s kisses playfully, he said, “But I still don’t understand the big deal about the emerald— _ah, no, don’t mark me, it’s embarrassing!_ —It is just a stone. It might seem more beautiful and it certainly is rare, but why would he kill you for it? I can’t even…” Nichkhun was bright red and breathless by the end of his rant. Taecyeon didn’t even kiss his lips, merely smothering him around the shoulders and neck—a small red mark now was exhibited on Nichkhun’s crook of neck. He had to suffer in heat if he wanted to conceal it.

“Khunnie,” Taecyeon whispered as he nibbled Nichkhun’s earlobe lightly, “you can’t decipher how other people’s minds work. Stupid ones, crazy ones, genius ones. You can’t simply understand them.”

Nichkhun shivered as the stupid hunky man licked the back of his ear.

“It’s just an emerald,” stuttered he, eyelids fluttered.

“It is,” Taecyeon responded coolly. However, his actions were _totally_ not cooling down Nichkhun’s rising body heat. _Damn teaser!_ The helpless man on the lap of Mother Island’s knight thought fiercely.

Nichkhun decided that he could not bear the teasing anymore. He turned around and straddled the man, demanding him to get down to it already. The mysterious odd man’s roaring laughter was brief for it abruptly transformed into grunts that satisfied the beautiful Thai boy. Hopefully, they would have proper rest again tonight. Maybe.

*****

John Gayer and Mike along with their comrades in the expedition—if it was even worthy to be entitled so—never returned. Two days after their last appearance, a thorough search was done to find even a mere sign of them once alive and passing the track, but nothing was ever discovered. Nichkhun, Chansung, and Wooyoung underwent a series of interrogations and tests, done in courtesy of the Gayers. Certainly, they didn’t say anything that would put any of them in trouble. The video and audio recording of Nichkhun being held in the storage room was destroyed by Taecyeon, knowing that it was best to leave out the horrendous fact of crimes John Gayer committed before his disappearance.

The mystery remained for those who were never directly involved.

Taecyeon mentioned, sometime after destroying the potent evidence, he could only imagine that another Gayer would come someday to unearth the truth behind John Gayer’s disappearance. Nichkhun was worried for him, knowing well that it would be him again that was chased. Chansung and Wooyoung, who were somehow involved in this, possessed limited knowledge of the event and Taecyeon in general. It was designated so that they would be fine if other person of interest should come to dig some information from them.

Now that the man of three hundred years rage vanished without a trace, at least the strange shapeshifter could taste a little bit of human life.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath. Wound healing and seed sowing. Six years later in Gizo.

# Act IV: The Man whose Home was Emerald

* * *

 

REPRESSED mellifluous moans, the squeaky sound of woods moving against cold floor and wall, the sound of springs bounced and tortured under the weights of two burly men who constantly moved, and series of slaps and slippery sounds were filling the room. The sun was still shyly peeking at the east, and yet, they had been wide awake ere the dawn. It had grown into some sort of habit since they began this relationship. One of them only started working at dusk but fundamentally needed no sleep at all while the other could only find rest as dark descended, so naturally they would only do this as dawn broke.

Nichkhun’s watery eyes fluttered, fighting the force of his body’s defence limit against waves of pleasure delivered into him. He was outstandingly vocal, but he bit his lip as hard as possible to minimize the embarrassing noises he made. He was on his back, legs hooked on his partner’s waist assisting the pounding effectively. His hands roamed free: one around the torso of his partner channelling his restlessness while the other messed up his partner’s dark hair and sometimes played with the big, mouse ear that he had.

“I want to make you my children’s mother,” said Taecyeon gruffly, eyes locked on Nichkhun’s half-lidded ones. He thumbed Nichkhun’s cheekbone, miraculously causing more waves of ecstasy to spread.

“What stops you?” Nichkhun asked breathily, moving his hips eagerly to show that his body was ready to challenge the impossible. He cupped Taecyeon’s face with both hands, inviting him for a kiss. The man relinquished easily as he slowed down and focused more on the kissing. He stroked Nichkhun’s naked body from shoulders to bottom. He lifted the lower part and pushed forward by the back of Nichkhun’s knees while managed to continue showering Nichkhun with smooches.

“You do know that you must come home in two days, do you not? It shall raise troubles for you if I do it now,” Taecyeon explained, ever so thoughtful and eloquent even though his tousled hair and ragged breathing defiled his supposedly neutral and sombre speech. Had Nichkhun ever told him that he was freaking hot? Taecyeon ended his solemn statement:

“For I know it will take a while until we meet again.”

His lover did not agree.

“If you won’t do it now, don’t bother dreaming of doing it anytime in the future,” declared the one at the bottom, viciously glaring at the man above, conveying all his annoyance through his eyes.

Taecyeon did halt and stare at Nichkhun, frozen because of the blunt demand slash threat. His fierce look suddenly softened. He reached to Nichkhun’s face, cupping it in one hand. His movements reduced speed as he sought to seriously discuss this without interrupting what they had been doing. Nichkhun found it hard to focus, though. Taecyeon looked into the doe eyes and, with warm and solemn voice, asked:

“This will change everything, Khun. There is no turning back once done. You are aware of a child-carrying woman, aren’t you? You have life out here, friends and family and colleagues. It will be extraordinarily bizarre for them, moreover without my presence next to you as it happens. Are you not afraid?”

Nichkhun initially hardened stare turned gentle, the remaining welling-up tears finally rolled down his temples. He reached out his hands and hugged Taecyeon as far and tightly as he could. Only then Taecyeon momentarily stopped and hugged him in return. Nichkhun, feeling a piece of lead fall from his chest, took a deep breath and lied down once again. Eyes locked once more, he smiled widely as he said, “I should have been afraid when I chased you into the woods. I should have been afraid when I found your body and head severed. I should be afraid when I saw you in my pictures. Perhaps I was and am, but why stop now? I’ll take the chance anyway.”

“Spicy Khun,” said Taecyeon, chuckling in admiration. He quickly worked on to entangle his fingers with Khun’s, pressing them together into the soft mattress. Nichkhun’s legs were magically on his shoulders, tangling helplessly, and perhaps would soon slide down to Taecyeon’s arms if he kept losing his strength like this. Taecyeon grinned ear to ear as he restarted his pounding machine. As soon as Nichkhun began biting his lower lip and fighting the need of shutting his eyes, Taecyeon shot a question: “Son or daughter?”

“There—there is an option?” Nichkhun genuinely asked. He was successfully boring his eyes without recollection of needing them shut immediately after the question was heard. Taecyeon sniggered and dived to taste his mouth. Nichkhun’s legs were now stretched even further—this was harder than gym class—as Taecyeon’s upper body slid forward and downward. Taecyeon trailed his lips to the jaw and stopped before Nichkhun’s ear.

“There is. One hundred percent decided before cooked. Pick your favourite of the menu, Khunnie baby,” he murmured with lowest decibel, most husky and erotic voice Nichkhun had ever been fortunate enough to hear. This wasn’t chocolate of a voice—this was chocolate with cayenne—no, raunchy chilli powder. _It caused inflammation on my pure, innocence mind!_

“I…”—Nichkhun wanted to answer properly, but his mind was taken away to a glorious faraway kingdom that now he could not dream of operating apt level of intelligence—“I don’t mind either.”

“Choose and I shall pour the mix of your choice and let you bake it to perfection,” insisted the cause of Nichkhun’s inability of thinking straight. He wrecked Nichkhun’s special spot deep within the cavity, accurately hitting it as would an experienced archer a target after countless hours of practices. Nichkhun couldn’t even human enough now.

“Hmm-ah…” He sighed and moaned at the same time. He tightened his grip on Taecyeon’s hands and tried to coherently utter the wanted reply, “Uh… err... _son_?” It came out somehow as a stifling challenge personified as a seductive question. Satisfied with the answer, Taecyeon lifted his upper body, straightened his back. He pounded mercilessly with eyes casted down on Khun. The one lying powerlessly on the bed shivered at the sight. This was not his first time looking at him like this, but somehow it was entirely different. Ok Taecyeon was definitely at the peak of his hotness. _Damn it. He is mine_.

Nichkhun felt heat pooling south. He could not hold it back any longer. His sultry melodious moans escaped like river water flooded past broken dam. He moved in perfect sync with Taecyeon, meeting in the middle, even with their supposedly awkward position. His moans increased intensity as he nearly reached his limit. Taecyeon swiftly released their holds to switch his hands’ duty to attend the spread legs. Nichkhun wrapped his arms around the torso, towing the man down and hungrily devouring the lips and mouth. Taecyeon’s cock felt suddenly increased its size inside as it moved, in and out. The heat was overwhelming and his whole being began to jerk violently. Nichkhun’s five senses were losing functions momentarily the second his peak was achieved. It lasted for a few seconds. When he came back, it was Taecyeon’s turn to come.

“Son it is,” he declared dramatically, slamming his dick deep inside Nichkhun, making the receiver let out breathy sob at the sensation. His cum flowed ragingly with abnormally large amount; it transformed Nichkhun’s flat stomach to bloat slightly.

“I feel full…” Nichkhun said with heaving breath and shaky voice. His body trembled, but he didn’t unhook his legs from Taecyeon’s waist as he felt that the flow had yet to cease. His asshole reflexively pulsed and tightened, sucking dry whatever Taecyeon had to offer.

“You should free me, then,” Taecyeon said jokingly. He swept his fingertips along the locks of hair that stuck to Nichkhun’s sweaty forehead. They were surprisingly quivering, too.

“You are free to pull out when you are done,” Nichkhun challenged, as usual.

“Spicy Khun,” Taecyeon repeated himself from earlier, and then added adoringly, “I love spicy things.”

*****

“ _Hyungdeul_ , are you not aware that Chansung and I are just across the corridor?” Wooyoung said sourly as soon as Nichkhun and Taecyeon appeared in the dining hall.

The pair threw the _freaking-glowing-with-post-morning-sex-aura_ couple a matching dirty look over their bountiful breakfast. It was inevitable, this reaction, because they had been in the resort for several days now, but not once they let their _hellishly delicious_ sound effects be heard through their assigned room, lest the entire building. More importantly, Chansung and Wooyoung had had a rough time worrying over Nichkhun that they couldn’t focus on their worldly desires—certainly they were quite pissed.

“I am not,” Taecyeon guiltlessly answered while Nichkhun was alarmingly red and avoiding eye contact with his juniors. He waddled, quite oddly, toward the banquet table. The junior pair eyed him even more closely as they noticed the change in his walking style.

“Khun- _hyung_ , can you even sit?” Chansung asked bluntly like a hammer to the head. Nichkhun was about to blow up now, almost literal steam was formed around his head.

“It’s okay,” Taecyeon responded for his uncontrollably blushing partner, “he will sit on my lap in order to avoid discomfort.” At this Nichkhun pivoted and grabbed him by the front of his shirt (Flash news: Ok Taecyeon had his own modern clothes now! Nichkhun insisted that he must, so they bought a bunch of those).

“No, I am not going to sit on your lap!”

“But it will be extremely uncomfortable if you sit on a chair without soft cushion.”

“Why are you so casual about this?” Nichkhun whined and buried his face in Taecyeon’s chest, surrendering the thought of having normal relationship. What did he expect? He was dating a man who blatantly told him to be his children’s mother while it was clear that Nichkhun was 100% a male. How could he expect his _boyfriend_ to be _subtle_ about anything despite he was _technically_ regarded as a proper southern Englishman—wait, he _was_ of the south, right? Not north?

“I guess we have to call you _hyung_ , too?” asked Chansung as things finally calmed down and they now were breakfasting like normal people. Nichkhun sitting on Taecyeon’s lap was considered as normal, too.

“If you want,” Taecyeon curtly replied. “I am used to Western culture. It is perfectly acceptable for you to address me without honorific.” Wooyoung frowned.

“Nah,” he said, “We’re Koreans. We should use the honorific to constantly remember our roots, even though we have like… three hundred and something years gap, I’ll call you _hyungnim_ anyway because you look like one.”

Chansung nodded in agreement.

“So, are we going to show them your place?” Nichkhun butted in with new topic.

“Do they want to, though?”

“Why not?”

“We… are going through the vortex again?”

“First timers all use the vortex.”

The two had suspected something when they heard the older couple talk, but they had no idea how scary it looked until they were standing in front of the said vortex. It looked beautiful, but going in wasn’t quite appalling. Despite the water seemed to be clean and clear, they were still frightened.

“Come, jump in,” said Taecyeon nonchalantly.

“There? Jump in _there_?” Chansung asked, pointing at the hole. The biggest among them nodded calmly. Nichkhun smiled apologetically. In the end, there was nothing that they could do but to do as Taecyeon said. However, when Nichkhun was about to jump after his juniors, Taecyeon held him back.

“You can just walk ahead, pass those twin trees,” said the man, pointing at a pair of trees that mirrored each other, forming some sort of arch. Nichkhun let out a shriek of questioning voice paired up with total shocked expression. Taecyeon sniggered at the sight, completely amused.

“The hell, Taec!”

“Oh, you come up with a nickname for me again?” Taecyeon teased.

“Taecyeon is sorta mouthful sometimes, you know.”

“They used to call me Terence instead. They also changed my surname to Ogden. Our names are too difficult to understand back then,” explained Taecyeon calmly. He, then, pushed Nichkhun’s back gently. “You don’t have to go through the vortex because you have part of me in you,” he continued. Nichkhun blushed instantly.

“That’s uncalled for, Taecyeon,” he muttered shyly. “I—I’ll go, then.”

He sidestepped the vortex and went straight to the twin trees. He looked back only to see the demigod dive in beautifully. He never had a chance to appreciate that perfect form before. Once Taecyeon completely passed the opening, the hole ceased. Nichkhun looked forward and passed through between the trees. Welcoming his eyes was the familiar waterfall and its legendary emerald sitting inside.

“So, this is why Taecyeon can take me back to the forest without going through the water, huh?” Nichkhun muttered, feeling tricked. He was flustered again as he recalled the reason he could walk in easily like this. “But… by having something his in me… this means…” Unconsciously, he touched his left chest and tummy.

Reluctant to be drenched, Nichkhun wander around the land and waited for the juniors to appear on the surface. He, however, found two cameras by the pool that unmistakably belonged to Wooyoung and Chansung. The cameras somehow landed there flawlessly, not even a drop of water was on them.

“My camera is in perfect form, too, even after unconscious fall. I wonder why it is.”

“Did you wait long?”

Taecyeon was first to reach the surface. Again, he transformed his lower half into shark’s tail. He hauled Nichkhun’s two assistants simultaneously toward dry land. They breathed heavily, grasping the grassy ground desperately. Nichkhun helped them to go up.

“Just an hour,” replied Nichkhun, patting Wooyoung’s back attentively.

“I guess Mother Island wants them to be here,” Taecyeon said, throwing the coughing up Chansung to land. It was quite a bizarre sight as Chansung wasn’t exactly small, but he was manhandled so easily.

“I thought I died!” Wooyoung whined.

“Whoaaaaah,” was Chansung’s only exclamation as he came around.

“I know, right?” Nichkhun said, giggling because he _knew_ exactly how that felt but he was now merely a spectator and not required to experience it ever again—not even drenched again to get to here (yay!). The two, then, sat together on the grassy land, gathering their mind back.

“Whoa, that’s the emerald?” Chansung asked in amazement as he spotted the crystal.

“Yes,” Taecyeon curtly replied.

“That’s huge,” Wooyoung noted. “No question why that guy wanted to take it so bad.”

“Do you want a tour through this place? I have just realized that even Khun hasn’t wandered around the cave.”

“Oh! You’re absolutely right! Let’s go!”

Taecyeon went into water first. His legs transformed into shark tail as usual. Nichkhun followed without hesitation. This time, he plastered his front on Taecyeon’s front. He wasn’t required to hold back now. He grinned at Taecyeon, arms clinging onto the neck. The man smiled and Nichkhun laid down his head on Taecyeon’s shirted chest, letting him to bring them across the pool. The journey felt too brief as Nichkhun suddenly found himself lifted to land by Taecyeon, like a bride. Then, Taecyeon went to the other side to guide the junior duo across the water. As Taecyeon followed the humans stand on the firm rocky ground, Nichkhun suddenly realized something.

“Why can’t I smell anything from you anymore? The atrociously strong scent that drew me in, it has gone!”

“Really?”

“What are you saying, _Hyung_?” Wooyoung interjected, unimpressed.

“Huh?” Nichkhun turned to him questioningly.

“You two reek, you know?” Wooyoung said, blushing as he evaded his eyes. He took a step closer to Chansung, who welcomed him immediately. “I have noticed this when you were back after missing, but it wasn’t as strong as today. Chansungie feels the same.”

“What… no, it’s…” Nichkhun stammered, shifting his eyes to Taecyeon, who looked less surprised than he expected.

“You two have same smell,” Chansung said. “It draws us in, which makes everyone upset over the _voices_ we must hear this morning. Everyone told us that they were captivated by you two, but they didn’t dare to come close. They thought Taecyeon- _hyung_ would beat them up if they made advances on Khun- _hyung_.”

“That can’t be!” Nichkhun denied, flustered.

“I wouldn’t beat them up,” Taecyeon said and his lover cried out in agreement, “But I would, for sure, have a conversation with them about it.”

“Totally guessed that,” Wooyoung said sassily.

While sniggering, they all brought toward the ever mysterious emerald. Chansung and Wooyoung were drawn in expectedly, and their hands were stopped by both Taecyeon and Nichkhun before they could touch it. With a brief explanation of what it truly was, they then walked down one of the curious tunnels. One of them led to the familiar chamber where the bed lied. Others led them to various chambers, either empty or utilized as storage and studio (yes, Taecyeon had a studio as in art studio where he actually drew and made arts). One of them actually brought them to the woods.

“The beach is just ahead,” said Taecyeon, gesturing to the shimmering midday light that breached through the woods. Chansung and Wooyoung, who loved coastal view, advanced first happily, while Nichkhun hesitated. His lover offered a hand to him and a warm smile. They walked together behind the happy-go-lucky couple.

“Wait a minute,”—they heard Chansung’s grieve voice break through—“This is… _that there_ is Gizo, right? We are not in Gizo anymore?!”

Nichkhun didn’t know what he was trying to say, though. Once he left the woods and saw clearly the blue sea and dancing billows of waves that teased the land, he sighed. It was beautiful. He had left his camera behind today because he wanted to spend time by being with Taecyeon instead of busy capturing moments, but this view was truly magnificent. It took him a while to finally realize that the island across the sea that he was looking wasn’t other island—but it was Gizo, the one they were supposed to stand on.

“Taecyeon- _hyung_ , this is real, isn’t this? That is Gizo, right?” Wooyoung pressed.

“Yes, we are currently in Kukundu,” calmly the mythical being replied. Chansung and Wooyoung shouted in pure amazement as little boys they were.

“This is amazing!” Chansung cried. “Is this how you go to Hawaii, _Hyungnim_?”

“Yes.”

“Awesome, awesome this is!” Wooyoung said, mischievously bothering Chansung who was taking pictures with his camera. They wiggled away and onto each other like two little boys. Nichkhun didn’t take any step away and watched them, beautiful smile blossoming in his handsome face.

“Khun- _hyung_! Aren’t you going to take pictures?” Wooyoung yelled. Somehow he and Chansung had gone some hundred meters away from them, bare feet licked by multiple waves and drowned in to the sandy surface. Chansung was crouching, focusing his camera on something between the sand dunes.

“You go ahead,” Nichkhun answered.

“Okay!”

“You didn’t bring your camera,” Taecyeon noted.

“I am tired of people who are busy taking pictures of the supposedly event they enjoy. Rather than being the one to capture the moments, I want, for once, to live the moments,” said Nichkhun, fairly bashfully. He didn’t dare looking at Taecyeon at all. Their joined hands were much interesting for now. He, unfortunately, missed how much warmth and adoration sent by Taecyeon through his eyes as Nichkhun was busy averting his eyes.

“Have I told you that I love you?” Taecyeon asked. Khun’s blush deepened and spread to his tip of ears. He slowly shook head, dropping his forehead on Taecyeon’s chest. The taller man gently released his hold on Khun’s hand, brought him instead into embrace. Nichkhun hugged him back. Taecyeon leaned down and kissed Khun’s top of head, with voice that rumbled like a roll of thunder, he said, “I love you, Khun. I am deeply in love with you. It has been brief since we met, but do not tell me if it is impossible to fall for you instantly.”

“And… and I you,” mumbled Nichkhun. He couldn’t hear anything clearly, to be honest, because his heart beat too loudly and Taecyeon’s drumming heartbeat wasn’t of any help as well.

“Look at them, Chansung- _ah_ ,” Wooyoung said, poking the supposedly younger man.

They eyed the couple who was still staying in the shades. Their photographer’s instinct hit and led them to candidly snap numerous pictures of Taecyeon and Nichkhun hugging and walking down to the shore, holding hands. At one point, Taecyeon stepped into the water, fishes suddenly surrounded him. He was floating on the surface as he was, a human, supported by fishes that came out of nowhere. Chansung grumbled about how he was stupid enough to forget his underwater camera once Taecyeon and Nichkhun disappeared from the surface, diving in shallow water. Their outing didn’t last long as dusk approached. The juniors helpfully reminded Nichkhun that they must begin packing because they would go to Seoul tomorrow, where Nichkhun had been living for the last two years.

Going back to the cave was a short walk. Chansung and Wooyoung anticipated their chance to be teleported back to the resort just by touching the emerald. They were excited, but also afraid. They touched the stone at the same time and gone in a flash before Nichkhun’s eyes. He, burdened and reluctant to leave, stepped toward the stone voluntarily with a hand grasping Taecyeon’s tightly.

“Will you come see me leave tomorrow?” asked Nichkhun.

“Certainly,” Taecyeon replied without any second of delay. He kissed the beautiful man, softly and carefully. They caressed each other’s face and smothered each other’s jaw and cheeks with butterfly kisses and ghostly pecks. Khun stepped back and slowly put his hand on the emerald, eyes fixated on Taecyeon, and other hand stilled around Taecyeon. As the cool and smooth surface met his skin, he expected a drastic change of scenery and absence of Taecyeon—but nothing happened.

“Huh, what?” Khun murmured, baffled. He leered down and found that his hand was indeed on the green gemstone. He patted it repeatedly, but still nothing happened to him.

“Could it be, Khun, you no longer consider other places as your home and instead this as yours? There couldn’t be any other reason,” Taecyeon stated, as confused as Khun was.

“I… I don’t want to leave,” Nichkhun admitted, “But I must.”

“I think it is time for you to meet the Mother.”

*****

Nichkhun did not dare to open his eyes at first. He put all his faith to Taecyeon who held him close as they entered the pool again. This time, they were not going to cross it, but dive into and through it. Nichkhun took a deep breath on Taecyeon’s mark, merely a second away from plunging themselves into cool water. He could feel the rough shark skin that Taecyeon wore as he swam and strong force that suffocated his entire being. He opened his eyes momentarily, welcomed by the sight of dark tunnel. How odd it was that plants were able to manage survival on the walls regardless the force of tunnel water. This was, honestly, much easier and better than his experience going through “the void” for the first time. In no time, Taecyeon had brought them both to clear surface.

It was supposedly close to sunset, but the sky was blue and clear, and the sun shone lovingly as if it was ten in the morning. They emerged in the middle of inland water body, surrounded by rocky island that reminded Nichkhun of Australian Great Barrier Reef. He looked about as he swam with Taecyeon to the centre of the island. It was a familiar sight—he had seen it in Taecyeon’s memories, he supposed. The landscape ahead was the embodiment of evergreen, colourful plants and lively all kinds of insects, but at their back, on the far side of the ring island, was grim plate of dark volcano rock, surrounded by angry red liquid metal and rock substance.

“This is where Mother Island lives,” Taecyeon said informatively as they walked to the shore.

The green hills suddenly moved and earth shook. Nichkhun, alarmed, grabbed Taecyeon instinctively, but the man only chuckled as he witnessed the reaction. A vast, graceful giantess appeared before their eyes. The hills were her shoulders and hip, down to her legs, the other end was her flower-crowned head and evergreen hair. Her face shimmered as would smooth surface of marble cliff. A smile curled on her majestic face, accompanying her emerald pair of eyes that burnished more beautifully than any gemstones in existence. As her lips moved, a gentle rumble followed and earth once again shook lightly. Nichkhun didn’t understand, but Taecyeon did.

The strange man looked up and spoke to her in response, but no words could be caught by Nichkhun’s ears. Taecyeon smiled at him and gently removed Nichkhun’s hands from his arms. He, then, grew enormously to match the giantess, and he was taken into her embrace. The shock of witnessing such an absurd, magical transformation aside, Nichkhun noticed that he was watching an interaction akin to a mother and a son reunited after a period of separation. The giantess caressed and kissed his head, and then they conversed. By the end of their brief conversation, they shifted their eyes to puny, tiny Nichkhun who stood still at the shore, lost in his befuddlement of the need of his presence right now. Taecyeon separated himself from the Mother Island and then returned to his normal nearly-2-meters-tall self. He smiled at Nichkhun, implying encouragement that Nichkhun had yet to understand.

“What did you tell her?”

“I told Mother Island that you will bear my child and you have considered my home as yours. She wants to grant you ability to speak with her.”

There came gently from a titanic finger a ripe red fruit hanging at the end of a vine. Nichkhun reached out and felt how smooth and clean it was, fit perfectly in his fist between the fingers. He, a normal human, could even tell that this fruit was of first class, fresh and sweet, correctly offered at the best time pick. Taecyeon caressed his hair, tacitly heartened him to take the fruit.

“Must I…” Nichkhun uttered, “Must I eat it whole?”

“Certainly,” Taecyeon answered doubtlessly. He grinned and added, “If you enjoy the fruit, of course. Otherwise, you will have to at least digest a bite to obtain the linguistic skill.”

“Oh, sure,” Nichkhun said, laughing coyly. He picked the fruit carefully and brought it to his lips. A whiff of delicious smell filled his nostrils. It reminded him of berries, although he wasn’t able to put a finger on which berries he was reminded right now. He fearlessly took a big bite. The juice was rich of taste, fresh and sweet, with a hint of citric taste, as it smelled. The flesh was cool and a little bit mushy. Nichkhun decided that finishing it would be the only option.

“It is nice to have someone enjoy the fruit I bear,” a motherly, melodious voice said. Nichkhun looked up, meeting the emerald eyes in an instant. She offered her enormous palm for Nichkhun to climb. She brought him to her eyelevel. He had to hold on to the thumb so he wouldn’t lose his balance and fall over.

“It is fantastical, isn’t it, to be here?” Mother Island asked. “I hope to offer you a piece of longevity as I see inside you flower that deserves to be preserved. I do not wish you to grow out of your mortal plane and leave my dearest son astray in decades, a range of time that feels no less than brief moments for our kin, but only if you are willing. It will be painful for you to remain youthful as you see your friends gradually move on and, eventually, fade away from your life.”

“If I choose to accept,” Nichkhun said, “will I be able to stay with Taecyeon?”

“That,” Mother Island said with a blooming smile, “is all yours to decide.”

“I don’t want to leave anymore, but for now, I must return to whence I come from. As Taecyeon said, I have a life outside and I cannot simply severe my ties, but I wish… _hope_ to settle down with him eventually.”

“It is possible to arrange,” Mother Island stated, “as your heart is now bearing a piece of emerald. Take this garnet if you accept my proposal.”

A bud of flower spurted from the thumb that Nichkhun was holding on to. It bloomed immediately, exhibiting a red gemstone inside. It was mesmerizing. Red was Nichkhun’s favourite colour after all. He took the stone without hesitation, but as soon as it was in his hands, it melted away and vanished without a trace. There was warmth that seeped into his skin and spread through his veins, dwelling ultimately inside his beating heart. He stared at Mother Island, but his tacit question was never verbally answered.

“You might not be as resourceful as my son and also you will not be able to transform as he was resurrected for, but your gift is never less important than what of his,” Mother Island explained tactfully. She gently brought Nichkhun back to land. As soon as Nichkhun climbed off her palm, she retracted her hand and said, “Now, off you go, my children. The night is nigh.”

Taecyeon bowed and Nichkhun bewilderedly tried to follow. Mother Island nodded and slowly returned to her dormant state. Taecyeon, then, pulled out from his pocket a necklace that would look ordinary cord-necklace if not for the small emerald in the sphere glass that hang gracefully there.

“I left this stone at your dressing table, Khun,” said Taecyeon, “but it must have rolled away as I fled from the unwanted appearance of Gayer that afternoon. I found it untouched behind the vase and I fashioned this way for you to take.”

“Oh, it… it is beautiful,” Khun said, flustered as Taecyeon put the necklace around his neck. “Will it take me back instantly to you if I touch it?”

“No,” Taecyeon replied. “It will, instead, lead you to me. Think of me.” He positioned Nichkhun’s hands, putting the sphere in his palms. Without even trying, Nichkhun had been thinking of him, so the effect was instantaneous. The emerald lit up, so bright that it blinded their eyes. Taecyeon cupped Nichkhun’s hands and covered the sphere so the light dimmed and vanished.

“It stops emitting light,” exclaimed Khun.

“It does once I make my presence known,” explained Taecyeon. He let Khun go and stepped back. He transformed into a giant eagle that he showed Khun before and offered his back to the human. Nichkhun frowned and tilted his head.

“ _Climb on my back. I shall fly you back in no time_.” Nichkhun heard Taecyeon speak, but Taecyeon the eagle just quacked in real life. He blinked rapidly in disbelief. He, distraughtly, climbed on the back and tightly hugged the feathery neck. “ _Don’t let go_.” Again, Taecyeon’s voice was heard, but now Nichkhun was sure that it was inside his head, directly, not through his ears.

“How did you do that?” Nichkhun asked. Disregarding the fact that he was now soaring high in sky, passing through invisible dome and now flying through different scenery, he questioned loudly. The question caused his lover’s snicker. Then, as he stared at Taecyeon and hugged his neck even tighter, he heard his voice answer.

“ _Like this, I suppose?_ ”

“Wait, did you just…?”

“ _It’s just possible among the two of us_ ,” Taecyeon said. They descended from the sky toward the resort. Despite there was still sunlight, no one was around to witness the strange sight. Smoothly, Taecyeon brought them to the ground and transformed back to his human form. Nichkhun was still hugging on him, effectively hanging about twenty centimetres off the ground.

“Come down, Khun, I must return to my duty,” said Taecyeon, slightly chuckling.

“I am greedy, Taec, I don’t want to part with you,” refused Nichkhun, but he came down anyway. Taecyeon turned around and leaned down to kiss his lover on the lips.

“We must part ways for now,” said the shapeshifter.

“Will you accompany me to the airport tomorrow? I want to see you in the morning before I leave.”

“Certainly, Khunnie,” Taecyeon replied without a hitch. “I shall see you in the morning, Beautiful.” Nichkhun smiled, blush prettily adorned his face, and nodded. They went separate ways. Fortunately, Nichkhun didn’t see how his handsome lover turned into the dark guardian again.

*****

Morning came and Nichkhun departed to the airport, worrying that Taecyeon wouldn’t come as he waited with his friends before the gate. Taecyeon fulfilled his promise, appearing in his centuries-old military uniform that was remade to fit his bigger and taller stature. He stood out with his red and white suit, and fancy hat, not to mention he was too easy to spot because of his entire figure. He took off his hat and put it on his chest, old-fashioned. All females swooned and whispered hotly while openly watched Taecyeon. No one blamed them, though, because he was so damn fine—and too conspicuous compared to Nichkhun, Chansung, and Wooyoung flocked together (which honestly was quite a prominent combination, but they wore normal clothes and they were not some two meters tall big bloke in red uniform from the seventeenth century).

“Why are you wearing this?” Nichkhun protested heatedly, upset that other people had a chance to see this.

“You look really cool, _Hyungnim_ ,” Wooyoung said.

“Will anyone make this kind of headline, ‘Ok Taecyeon melts girls’ hearts with his ancient uniform’ and this picture that I took?” Chansung asked, grinning mischievously as he pointed at the picture in his camera.

“What are you saying?” Taecyeon laughed, “It is not possible, is it?”

“Shame,” Chansung said, pouting like a five-year-old kid.

“Go stand next to him, _Hyung_ , Chansungie will take your picture,” commanded Wooyoung. They did pick some pictures together before they finally bid farewell to the odd creature.

“Will you be able to find me if I am nowhere near the sea?” Nichkhun asked for the last time before he turned to enter the gate.

“I shall,” replied Taecyeon, swapping a hand past Nichkhun’s left eye and left ear. He twirled the wrist and revealed a scarlet gemstone that was not unlike the one given by Mother Island to Nichkhun. “With this, I will always know where you are.”

“Magic trick?!” guessed Nichkhun, fascinated by the sudden appearance of the stone.

“Yes,” Taecyeon answered without any hint of hesitation. He pulled Nichkhun into a hug and bid the final farewell. Taecyeon leaned down far to peck him, effectively roasting the witnesses’ eyes and hearts as envy topped their current feeling.

Mysterious as it was, Taecyeon disappeared the moment Nichkhun and his friends finally went into the aeroplane. A giant bird of prey, however, was seen gliding next to the plane, right next to the window that Nichkhun’s seat was located. Back to his current home, Nichkhun was welcomed by Minjun and Junho who lived next door and everything had somehow become normal again.

*****

“I wonder why he finally asked us to visit after all these years. The last time I met him was the time he said he would start living in Gizo as permanent resident. He gained a lot of weight that time; I could hardly recognize him at first glance. He stopped coming to gym and even stopped doing his rounds every morning. It was the most questionable moment that I ever had with him in my life,” a man said. He leaned away from the door and proceeded to open it and stepped out of the car. They finally arrived at the Four Shores Resort. The man waited for his companions to get off the vehicle, too, and to grab his luggage from the trunk.

“You weren’t there when he was terribly upset about his uncontrollable weight and constant nausea. He didn’t eat much, but he still gained weight. I kept telling him not to fret about it and he must eat anyway, but not until his ridiculously handsome boyfriend came to visit him that he began to eat again,” another man said, resuming their conversation as the four of them took out their each luggage from the back of the car.

“Ah, Minjun- _hyung_ , are you still upset because Khun- _hyung_ finally settles down with a boyfriend after you two broke up?” Chansung asked, fully grinning.

“Where did you get that idea, Hwang Chansung? I am never upset about it,” the man in question claimed with surprisingly gentle voice. “I am actually glad that he found someone. After all, we broke up because it didn’t work that way for us. Well, mostly for me, because I still have to marry a woman whatsoever or my family will disown me. My dad made me swear that I will.” They went silent for a moment. This topic was heavily unpleasant to be brought up, but it was inevitable at the moment.

“Guessed Jaebeom- _hyung_ would be happy to come as well. He went along so well with Taecyeon- _hyung_ for whatever reason. Too bad he is currently on tour,” Wooyoung said, wondering out loud. They walked together toward the reception desk. While Chansung was settling their arrangement, the three of them waited in a circle.

“And what? Doing an outing for Khun’s exes in honour of Khun’s new settled life with his boyfriend? I didn’t come here to watch my brothers butchered, Jang Wooyoung!” the man who spoke first, Lee Junho, said being completely salty. He shook his head in disbelief, but then he chuckled. “Thank goodness Fany is married.”

“Taeyeon wouldn’t mind, though, had he asked them to come,” Wooyoung said.

“Right, and what, telling them that thanks to their wedding, Nichkhun finally found the love of his life?” sniped Junho.

“Well, that’s plausible,” Wooyoung countered easily.

“Lee Junho, aren’t you a little bit too salty for the morning?” Minjun asked, poking the man’s ribs. He was irritated but also amused. The man pouted and began to mumble in slightly whiny voice about he was just tired. Minjun brought him into an embrace and comforted the adorable little brother of his.

“Here are your keys,” Chansung said, appearing with four keys. He slipped one out and claimed for himself before offering the other three to his friends. “I have rented a jeep, too. We can go to Khun- _hyung_ ’s house anytime.”

“Let’s freshen up first, you guys,” said Minjun, clutching his key. They all agreed.

It took them about three hours upon arrival to be ready to depart to Nichkhun’s current house. Ever since he moved out from Seoul and chose to be a freelance blogger and photographer, he had lived in Gizo, at the house by the end of the road that split Gizo into two. There was only one house there and it was now his—well, theirs. His and Taecyeon’s. The details of his relationship and events surrounding his latest visit to Gizo with Chansung and Wooyoung were not undisclosed to Minjun and Junho. They had been heavily implying the facts, but never outright telling them.

“There it is,” Wooyoung said, pointing at the distance.

“It is quite small,” commented Junho, slightly standing up so he could see what Wooyoung was pointing at from where he sat on the back.

They could see the house, more likely to be better referred as a cottage, built of woods and stones traditionally. It reminded them of Nordic castle. Chansung pulled over just ten meters away from the surprisingly neat vegetable garden. A boy was pulling weeds from around the plants. He was alerted of their arrival and immediately on his feet, staring at them fixatedly. Chansung led the group cautiously.

“Oh, Chansung- _samchon_ ,” the boy muttered just loud enough for Chansung to hear. He thought he had misheard it.

“Excuse me?” he asked.

“Papa! Papa! Papa!” the boy yelled as he ran toward the cottage. “Papa! The uncles are here! Papa!”

The door swung open and a familiar face peeked out from the crack. A warm smile that brightened pretty much everyone upon seeing it finally appeared. Nichkhun stepped out of the cottage, wearing comfortable sleeveless shirt and sweatpants _and a red apron_. His appearance drew the group toward the cottage.

“Khungkhungie!” Minjun called happily. They took turns to give the man a hug.

“You look not a day older since we last met, _Hyung_ ,” noted Junho.

“Ah, you are exaggerating,” Nichkhun said bashfully. He pulled the boy close to him and introduced him to his friends, “This is Jinyoung, by the way, our son. He is five, uh, six this year. Come on, greet your uncles, Jinyoungie.” The boy bowed and expressed his greeting properly as a normal Korean kid would—which was quite baffling for the group upon realization that this kid hadn’t spent a day in Korea.

“Your son, huh…” Wooyoung mused. “Where’s the other, _Hyung_? I thought you mentioned to us that you have already had the second one.”

“Bammie is with Daddy,” Jinyoung helpfully answered.

“Oh, is that so? Where are they?” Wooyoung asked with his silly, child-mimicking voice, squatting to be at Jinyoung’s eyelevel.

“In the woods,” the boy replied curtly.

“We saw this painting, Khun, when we visited England just a few days ago,” Minjun said, pulling out his phone. He swapped through his gallery of pictures and stopped at the photo of a beautifully framed old painting. “Doesn’t the man look like your hubby? Well, but it’s not the most shocking part, though.”

Nichkhun took the phone and squinted at the photo. He blinked rapidly as his face blushed and a slight, sweet smile bloomed right after. Jinyoung tugged at his shirt and nagged to see what his dad was looking at. Nichkhun surrendered after a few seconds and showed it to his son. Jinyoung’s eyes widened dramatically and he shouted:

“Papa, why were you wearing a dress? Or—or was it Auntie Cherreen? But why, why was Daddy posing with Auntie?” He was about to cry. Nichkhun handed the phone immediately, back to its owner. He was holding back his laughter as he calmed his son.

“No, no, it’s not your aunt! It’s not me either—it was Daddy’s former fiancée three hundred years ago, Jinyoung. She had passed away centuries ago because Daddy was thought to be dead.”

“Really?”

“Really, you can ask your Daddy later, okay?”

Jinyoung calmed down after hearing the explanation, but Nichkhun’s friends didn’t. They began questioning him about it, but Nichkhun only laughed and said that it was never remotely as weird as anything else that was related to Taecyeon. As they were busy with that, Jinyoung tugged again at Nichkhun’s shirt, and he kept asking them to hear him and look. His tiny forefinger protruded, pointing at the woods. They turned their eyes toward the direction he pointed to.

“Daddy and Bammie are back!”

“I heard the guests have arrived.”

Taecyeon made his way out of the woods just now. He walked to them with imposing swagger that he just naturally had. A small boy perched atop his shoulder, holding on to his head. If anything, they might mistake him for a toy, but it wasn’t their fault since Taecyeon was a giant and the boy was still so small. The boy raised his arm and pointed at the distance. With a small toddler-voice, he said—

“Daddy, that auntie has somefing scawi. Bammie afwaid of hew fing, Daddy. Can you tell the aunty an’ hew fwends to weavve? They can hurt _‘Yungie_ an’ Papa an’ uncles. Pwease, Daddy, tell them to weavve.”

Before their joyful reunion could even begin, a woman emerged from the other side of the woods across whence Taecyeon and his son came from. She was with a dozen men equipped with firearms and many kinds of weapons. Taecyeon sighed, effortlessly recognizing the woman. He approached Nichkhun and gently took his baby off his shoulder to transport to Nichkhun’s arms.

“I suggest all of you come inside. I shall take care of this predicament on my own,” said he, heavily implying a command to his four guests and family.

“Come in, quick,” Nichkhun hurriedly said, opening the door and pushing his son first, then glaring at his friends to immediately obey the command. The four men didn’t understand what was happening, nor did they know what would happen next. Nichkhun shut the door and locked it without any trace of doubt—which actually raised a train of questions from his friends, but he could not care about any of those for now.

“This way,” he urgently said. His son swiftly ran ahead themselves through the cosy living room and a draped arch, through a small corridor leading them to a back door. Jinyoung efficiently turned the doorknob and went out first. The guests had thought that they would plainly escape through backdoor to the back of the cottage, which undoubtedly would lead them toward a seascape lawn, but no, this was different.

“Wait,” Chansung said as he passed the door.

“This is…” Wooyoung continued, eyes widened.

“Isn’t this…” Junho wanted to ask, but his heart was filled with wonder and amazement. He had never seen something like this before.

“The legendary spillway?” Minjun completed his friends’ cut phrases. Yes, this was time to get past the void again for first-timers. Nichkhun handed his second son to Jinyoung, who bravely jumped into the vortex together hereafter.

“Go, jump! You’ll be all safe there,” Nichkhun said, a smirk threatened to curl.

“You just want us to experience this, don’t you?” Junho, the ever judgemental person of the flock, asked with squinted eyes. Nichkhun smiled sweetly.

“What are you talking about, Lee Junho?” he asked innocently before pushing them one by one into the vortex. They screamed on their top of lungs and Nichkhun grinned. He jumped after them. It was now his job to guide them. After all, he was the anomaly who mastered the void, a blazing spirit that would keep the passengers from getting lost in the realm of no living creature.

As for Taecyeon, he was merely as he had always been for the last three centuries. He stood before the woman and her little charade calmly.

“Stop this before you get hurt, Gayer,” Taecyeon said, persuading the woman.

“I don’t know what you have done to my brother, but I will avenge him! It took me years, but I will make sure that I end what my ancestors started. I will have your head as a trophy and the emerald as my ticket to bring my family back to its former glory,” the woman declared, cocking her shotgun and aiming at Taecyeon.

“What a pitiful life you have, lassie. You know it doesn’t work on me, don’t you?” Taecyeon asked, somewhat mockingly at her attempt to threaten him and force his submission. She clicked her tongue distastefully.

“You know, I know what my brother didn’t know. This is going to be your demise.”

“Well, let us see who shall be the victor among us, but a reminder for you: This is the jungle, your rules don’t apply. The strongest shall win,” Taecyeon said.

“You freaking _fucking_ bastard _—shut the fuck up_!”

“Oh, do not fret—the talk ends here,” said the shapeshifter, grinning mischievously.

Quickly he transformed into lizard and slipped away from sight into bushes. The Gayer and her followers shot their firearms, scrambled on their feet as half of them went after Taecyeon into the woods while the remaining chase the rest of the family into the house. They broke into the house and found no one inside. They broke through the backdoor, but of course, what they found as they stepped out of the doorway wasn’t the backyard of that house.

And so it began: the new emerald chase.

 

~THE END~


End file.
